You bang your knee hard while playing soccer. You pass out
in the heat. Where would you go if either one of these situations happened to
you? Emergency room or urgent care center? Health Briefs explains the
differences.
If you bang your knee hard, go to an urgent care center.
There are about 10,000 of them nationwide that accept medical insurance and
also take the uninsured. Some emergency rooms refuse to pay insurance companies
for non-life threatening medical problems. Urgent care centers are good for
injuries, vaccinations, minor illnesses and small medical concerns. If you pass
out in the heat, it is better to be taken via ambulance to the emergency room. Cost
is another good reason to visit an urgent care center versus the ER. You can
find out what they charge before leaving the home by visiting their website. To
note—they are one fifth less expensive than the emergency room and you are not
as likely to be charged for services you did not receive.
Health Briefs outlines when to visit the emergency room:
Chest pain
· Difficulty breathing
· Loss of consciousness
· Sudden loss of vision
· Major traumatic injury
When to visit an urgent care center:
Minor burns, cuts, or injuries
such as sprains and strains
· Minor bone fractures
· Coughs, sore throats, fever, flu,
vomiting
· Ear infections
· Non-life threatening allergic
reactions and mild asthma attacks
Locate the nearest urgent care
center online and review their costs. Sometimes, this is the better place to be
for life’s less critical medical concerns and injuries.
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