3 Reasons A Visit To The Urgent Care Can Help Your Financial Health

Michelle Hopkins

One reason that some ill or injured individuals fail to see prompt medical is that they have concerns over how they are going to pay for it. However, one way that you can alleviate the financial strain of an unexpected doctor's appointment is to visit the urgent care instead of the emergency room.

You can visit the urgent care for multiple medical ailments that need prompt medical treatment but aren't necessarily emergencies, such as cuts, illnesses with high fevers, or muscle strains. Here are three reasons a trip to a walk-in clinic can help maintain your financial well-being as well as your physical health.

1. Trips to the Urgent Care Usually Have a Cheaper Co-Pay

If your health insurance plan requires you to pay a co-pay for your health care appointments, it is likely that your plan has a cheaper co-pay for trips to the urgent care. It may also have a higher co-pay if you choose to utilize the emergency room. By opting for the urgent care instead of the emergency room, you can save yourself hundreds of dollars in the copay alone.

2. The Overall Cost of an Urgent Care Trip is Cheaper

Some individuals have high deductible health insurance plans; under these plans, you have to meet your deductible before your plan offers any level of coverage. If you haven't met your deductible, this means that you will likely have to shoulder the entire cost of your urgent care or emergency room visit.

Fortunately, visiting an urgent care clinic instead of the emergency room is an excellent way to minimize the overall cost of your appointment. If you compare the costs of a visit to the urgent care clinic and a trip to the emergency room for the same condition, the price of your urgent care appointment will nearly always be lower. 

Even if you have a lower deductible health plan that permits the use of copays, you are likely still responsible for paying a certain portion of your medical expenses. Again, with lower overall costs, the urgent care minimizes the amount that you have to pay.

3. Trips to the Urgent Care are Shorter

If you visit the emergency room, prepare yourself for a long wait, especially if your ailment isn't truly an emergency. Some patients fail to factor in the value of their time. If they have to leave work to see the doctor or need to hire child care, the longer it takes to receive medical attention, the more this will increase your costs. Patients who don't have sick time may even have to take time off unpaid.

Visiting the urgent care will shorten your wait time so that you can control these additional expenses as much as possible. For more information, contact a company like MED7 Urgent Care Center.


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