Thousands of newly insured Massachusetts residents are relying on emergency rooms for routine medical care, an expensive habit that drives up health care costs and thwarts a major goal of the state's first-in-the-nation health insurance law, reports The Boston Globe.

A sizable number of patients who obtained state-subsidized insurance have continued to use the ER -- at a rate 14% higher than Massachusetts residents overall, according to state data compiled at the Globe's request. Those state-subsidized patients with the lowest incomes, who formerly received free care in emergency rooms and now pay a nominal fee, are using ERs at a rate 27% higher than the state average.

Routine care in ERs is considerably more expensive than at a doctor's office or community health center. The average charge for treating a non-emergency illness in the ER is $976, while it costs between $84 and $164 to treat a typical ailment in a primary care doctor's office. Doctors and counselors working the front lines of emergency care say a major reason patients still flock to their doors for routine care is that there are too few primary care physicians in Massachusetts. Some newly insured patients are waiting months for their first visits.