Emergency treatment centers closing as visits increase

Emergency care visits nearly doubled between 1991 and 2010, but across the United States, trauma centers and emergency rooms have continued to close and move away from where they’re most helpful. The Atlantic reports on how the centers’ declining numbers reflect a class and racial disparity that continues to widen. The patients who can’t afford treatment need it the most, but the costly treatment centers are increasingly located away from less affluent areas. Among the most alarming findings: emergency departments are 41 percent more likely to close for every 0.1 percent increase in the proportion of African-Americans treated.