Summation
- Still, that's usually a lot less than what you'd pay in a hospital, especially if you factor in the cost of an ambulance ride to the emergency room.
- However, if you come in with a condition too serious for the urgent care facility to handle, they might refer you to a nearby hospital with more resources.
- New urgent care facilities are opening up around the country all the time, and some people seem to like the business model more than going to a traditional hospital.
Let’s say you’re at home, and you suddenly start experiencing extreme pain in your abdomen. It doesn’t seem to be letting up, and you decide you need medical attention. You can always call an ambulance and head to an emergency room, but maybe you feel the cost will be too prohibitive.
An urgent care facility like Instacare is always an option instead. You might wonder how much you can expect to pay at one of them, though. We’ll get into that in the following article.
What is an Urgent Care Facility?
First, let’s briefly explain what an urgent care facility is. New urgent care facilities are opening up around the country all the time, and some people seem to like the business model more than going to a traditional hospital.
If you need care urgently, you can go to one of these facilities and see a doctor. There are usually a few of them on call there at any time.
These are walk-in clinics, and if you need care immediately, the doctors and staff there can provide it. They will have many of the resources that a traditional emergency room has. However, if you come in with a condition too serious for the urgent care facility to handle, they might refer you to a nearby hospital with more resources.
Who Runs These Facilities?
Private companies run urgent care facilities. Often, a company that has this business model will open several of them in a single city. Some of the more popular ones will be owned by the same company and operate over several states or entire sections of the country.
They are not the same as free clinics, which usually serve impoverished areas. Urgent care facilities are for-profit companies, so make sure you understand that before you go there.
How Much Will You Normally Pay at an Urgent Care Facility?
Urgent care clinics generally cost less than hospitals, which is one of the things that some people like most about them. The average cost of an urgent care facility visit can be anywhere from $100-$150. That’s the case if you have insurance.
However, even if you don’t have insurance, the cost of a basic visit doesn’t go up all that much. You can expect to pay about $175 if you head to an urgent care center without health insurance.
These costs can fluctuate dramatically depending on multiple factors, such as what company runs the particular facility you chose, what insurance you have, and what the doctor on call determines is going on with you. You might pay as much as a few hundred dollars if you include the treatment and medication required to help you.
Still, that’s usually a lot less than what you’d pay in a hospital, especially if you factor in the cost of an ambulance ride to the emergency room. That’s why, if you’re experiencing a serious medical ailment but not one you think is necessarily life-threatening, you might head to an urgent care facility instead.