ER vs. Urgent Care

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been going to the emergency room with every illness, ailment, or injury that couldn’t be cured with a home remedy. It was just something my mother told me to do. In fact, I believed it was the only option for immediate medical treatment. I should have figured out that it wasn’t the best choice when they often sent me home with nothing more than an ibuprofen and a huge bill. But what was my alternative? Make an appointment with my primary care doctor 3 months away?

Why was it that every time that I got sick with the flu, food poisoning, or even a UTI, I thought that my only option was to rush 11 train stops down to a hospital for treatment? Why did no one tell me I could have receive the same treatment a block away from my apartment at urgent care? These questions remained unanswered for 30 years until my coworker asked me to work on this op-ed piece for human resources on the difference between going to the emergency room versus urgent care at a clinic. Wait…there’s a difference?!

The emergency room does have its benefits (24/7 service and a team of specialized doctors on hand being among them), and it does appear to be the most obvious choice. However, when you look at the average time it takes for you to complete a visit, you are looking at 2-3 hours at the ER versus a 30-minute at an urgent care.

I have my own personal experience with this excessive wait time. I used to spend half my day at hospital waiting patiently for my name to get called. When it did, I would jump up, maybe a little too enthusiastically, and bear the stares of everyone watching as I went into the second area. It almost made me feel as if I had won something just by getting called, “yes! I had been chosen.”

If the wait time doesn’t put you off, maybe the cost will. On average a visit to the ER can run you from $1,300, the 2017 average, to $2,200, the average recorded in 2021 by United Health. It seems a bit high for a sore throat. In comparison, the average cost of a UC visit is exponentially less, running at about $100-$150 depending on the insurance and level of treatment. In fact, it is at the insurance company’s discretion to decide what constitutes “life-threatening” and “non-urgent.”

So, I will break it down. Flu and cold symptoms not life threatening, ear infection not life threatening, bronchitis not life threatening, UTI painful, but not life threatening, so what is life threatening? Severe chest pains, paralysis, shortness of breath, vaginal bleeding with pregnancy, poisoning, allergic reactions, and unconsciousness, to name a few. Advice to remember, if the condition is not life threatening, but needs treatment today, head to urgent care.

While it is easy to read this opinion piece and forget it a day later, ask yourself this question, do I want to go into crippling financial debt? I have been there. No, you don’t. So, think of this the next time the seasonal flu catches up to you and you need some ibuprofen.