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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: In the Health Agencies Update,¹ Dr Hampton cites a report by the National Association of Community Health Centers² and states that "[p]atients without health insurance are flooding US emergency departments." We believe that this is an inaccurate description of that report, which focuses on the achievements and threats to community health centers.

The uninsured make up a minority of emergency department (ED) patients.³ An estimated 83% of emergency visits are by patients who have a usual source of health care other than an ED. Eighty-five percent of patients visiting an ED have medical insurance, and 85% have incomes exceeding the poverty threshold. Persons without insurance were no more likely to have had an emergency visit than those with private insurance, and individuals without a usual source of care were 25% less likely to have had an emergency visit than those with a private physician.

According to the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ellen J. Weber, MD
weber@medicine.ucsf.edu
Division of Emergency Medicine

Jonathan A. Showstack, PhD, MPH
Institute for Health Policy Studies

Michael L. Callaham, MD
Division of Emergency Medicine
University of California, San Francisco

Kelly A. Hunt, MPP; David C. Colby, PhD, MA
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Princeton, NJ

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