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Don't go to the ER for a sprained thumb. Unless its an actual emergency, go to urgent care. I live in a pretty expensive area of California and they still onl
by sbov 8y ago
Don't go to the ER for a sprained thumb.
Unless its an actual emergency, go to urgent care. I live in a pretty expensive area of California and they still only charge $95 per person they see. And our insurance covers it completely. And rightly so, they would much prefer a $95 bill to a $14,000 one.
With kids we go a couple times per year. They definitely have saved us a lot of money and time.
- thebooktocome 8y agoUrgent care doesn't exist in some jurisdictions.
- germinalphrase 8y agoUrgent care also closest. My closes urgent care is open from 8 am - 6 on. The rest close by 8. Deep cut at 9pm... emergency room is only option.
- rtkwe 8y agoAs other have said urgent care isn't everywhere and closes so it's not entirely by choice that people wind up in the emergency room for non emergency things. Beyond that it's hard to know sometimes what's emergency and what isn't until you have a doctor look at what's happening.
- ams6110 8y agoOK but a sprained thumb is not something that can't wait until morning. Take a couple of Advil and put some ice on it.
- Cd00d 8y agoThat assumes the patient _knows_ it's only a sprain.
- malyk 8y agoIt's likely the same for any break that is in the "not sure if is sprain or break" range. Years ago I crashed my mountain bike and had a high suspicion that I had broken one of my fingers. Urgent care was closed by the time I got home and cleaned up and my college roommate was in town so I met up with him after taping my fingers together to prevent unnecessary/unplanned movement. Urgent care confirmed a break the next morning, and fixed everything for $300. Healed perfectly. Anyway, anecdotes are just that, but the emergency room is not the place to go for "simple" things like a possible sprain, minor break.
- graedus 8y agoUrgent care might be a good option where it's available. Even here though, I've been told I just need to pay my copay, which I did up front, then been billed a couple months later for some additional amount. I was lucky that the amount wasn't high so I just paid it rather than dig in, but it's very unclear how or why I was billed extra. This happens all the time.
- koolba 8y agoIf you have a deductible you’ll be on the hook for the whole cost which could be $100-150. The bill would need to round trip to the insurance company first. In contrast if you have not met your deductible and say you’re paying cash, it’s often cheaper as the cash price is something like $75. I got in an argument once at an urgent care on this topic. I asked how much they would bill my insurance (“We can’t/won’t tell you) vs not having insurance and paying cash price ($75). They then proceeded to insist I give them my insurance information as “Sir- you must use your insurance. That’s illegal!”.
- sbov 8y agoI had a hospital pull this on me when I was looking to get something done. They said we can't get the cash price because you can only get that if you don't have insurance, even if you know your insurance doesn't cover it, and it's illegal to not have insurance so we must have it, so no cash price.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoTalking to people in the healthcare field about billing and money can make people murderous, logic, chain of reasoning, the English language is all in a state of flux.