Rising Emergency Healthcare Costs Focus of McCaskill’s Kansas City Roundtable

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Rising healthcare and emergency room costs in Missouri and across the country were the focus of a roundtable discussion today with U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, ER doctors, patient advocates, and community health workers at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.

“When it comes to tackling healthcare costs, we’re seeing this problem where insurance companies will only decide whether they’re going to cover your emergency room visit after you’ve already been to the emergency room—leaving folks with massive bills they can’t afford, and even worse, afraid to get help when they need it,” McCaskill said. “That’s why it’s so important to hear directly from those on the frontlines to better understand the impact these unexpected costs have in terms of Missourians’ health, so I can bring their ideas back to the Senate and work to address this issue.”

McCaskill has made tackling rising healthcare costs in Missouri a top priority in the Senate—including emergency healthcare costs. She is demanding answers from Anthem after the insurance company announced it would no longer cover emergency room costs for Missourians if the care is deemed non-emergent. The company sent notices to its customers informing patients that “you’ll be responsible for ER costs when it’s NOT an emergency” – a change that could dramatically impact patients, who may no longer seek care in an emergency for fear it won’t be covered, and hospitals, who are obligated to provide care no matter the cost or circumstances.

Participants in today’s roundtable were: Dr. Gregory Conners, Director of the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s Mercy Kansas City; Dennis Dunmyer, Vice President of Community Programs at the Kansas City Care Clinic; Dr. Matthew Gratton, Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Truman Medical Center; Rosalind Hardy, community health worker at Kansas City Care Clinic; Cheri Hunt, Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services/Chief Nursing Officer at Children’s Mercy Hospital; Dr. Marc D. Larsen, emergency room doctor at St. Luke’s Hospital; Dominique Lucas, community health worker at Kansas City CARE; Dr. Bridget McCandless, President and CEO of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City; and Ricci Sanchez, Chief Operating Officer at St. Luke’s Hospital.

Last year, McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sought answers from Envision Healthcare and its subsidiary EmCare Holdings, Inc. following reports of skyrocketing costs at emergency rooms run by EmCare. According to those reports, EmCare tripled the highest rate for ER visits at one hospital that was studied and allegedly pressured ER doctors to order expensive, unnecessary tests for patients. EmCare manages more than ten hospitals in Missouri.

McCaskill has continually worked to improve healthcare in Missouri and across the country. In response to rural hospital closures across the country, McCaskill called for an investigation into the challenges these hospitals face, trends in rural hospital closures, and recommendations for the federal government about addressing these issues. Last year, McCaskill introduced legislation aiming to protect access to health insurance for Missourians on the individual insurance market, amid reports of insurers withdrawing from those markets. McCaskill also joined Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine to pass a bill to increase competition for generic drugs and lower prescription costs.

McCaskill gave birth to her three children at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.