Anecdata: had to take spouse to ER earlier this year. She had a reasonably run-of-the-mill cold, but the cough had irritated her throat enough that everything s

Anecdata: had to take spouse to ER earlier this year. She had a reasonably run-of-the-mill cold, but the cough had irritated her throat enough that everything she attempted to eat was triggering her gag reflex. She was getting pretty feeble from lack of food (and throwing what little she could get down back up). Insurance is through her work, so I had to coax her through logging in to her account so that I could try to find an in-network ER list. After spending ~30 minutes grumbling at the website over the complete lack of anything resembling clarity, I had a list of 3 hospitals that appeared to be in-network (and a sinking feeling that this could easily cost thousands of dollars). Set off around 2am. Arrived at first. 5+hour wait. Went to the next, no wait. They didn't manage to do much aside from giving a few tests that came up negative, administered fluids, gave her a steroid shot, and did a blood panel. Her blood panel had one abnormal result that the doctor was willing to admit her for observation over (and had admitted people in the pass for less), but the doctor also noted that the parameter can vary a lot person to person; some people would be fine at that level. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach and decided it would be better to take her home to keep an eye on her than risk financial ruin. I think we were there 2-3 hours. When the bill came months later, it was $2600 because the doctor was out of network.