Impact of drinking alcohol on healthcare

I just read an article that came out this month about alcohol use and it's impact on the healthcare system. I was quite surprised to learn that high-risk alcohol drinkers were less likely to access healthcare than other drinkers and that the level of risky of drinking did not predict healthcare usage.

First, I was surprised by this based on my observations in the hospital. I see a lot of people admitted as a result of heavy drinking and figure they wouldn't be in the hospital if it weren't for the fact that they had been drinking. Second, my surprise was compounded when the article started out discussing how risky alcohol use is associated with over 60 medical conditions, such as hypertension, liver disease, or coronary artery disease. And that, with 3/10 American adults engaging in risky drinking, exceeding the low-risk drinking pattern is 4x more prevalent that diabetes or 10x more prevalent than cancer. Wow. Impressive numbers, I think. And to me those impressive numbers would correlate to healthcare usage. So interesting that it doesn't!