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With health insurance getting more and more expensive in recent years, there are more people who don’t have any health insurance. However, accidents can still happen. How much does an urgent care visit cost when you don’t have health insurance?
An urgent care visit costs $200 to $300 without insurance. However, they can cost as much as $350 without insurance. How much an urgent care visit costs varies depending on the amount of care given, how long the visit lasts, and where the urgent care center is located.
Keep reading to learn more about how much it costs to go to an urgent care facility when you don’t have health insurance.
How Much Does Urgent Care Cost Without Health Insurance?
There are a number of different factors that are going to change just how much you are going to have to pay when you visit an urgent care center, however, if you are talking about the base price you are going to have to pay, you can expect anywhere from $100 all the way to $450. A good way to figure out how much your urgent care visit will cost would be to take the base average of $200. If you know you will need something such as an x-ray or ultrasound then you can multiply that by 30-50%, and this will get the price you will likely have to pay.
While the price of treatment is going to vary from location to location, the table below shows the most common reasons that people go to an urgent care center for and the cost that they are having to pay. It also compares the price you would have to pay if you visited an emergency room instead of an urgent care facility.
Condition | Urgent Care Cost for Treatment ($) | Emergency Room Cost for Treatment ($) |
---|---|---|
Allergies | $97 | $345 |
Acute Bronchitis | $127 | $595 |
Earache | $110 | $400 |
Sore Throat | $94 | $525 |
Pink Eye | $102 | $370 |
Sinusitis (Sinus Infection) | $112 | $617 |
Strep Throat | $111 | $531 |
Upper Respiratory Infection | $111 | $486 |
Urinary Tract Infections | $112 | $665 |
Determining Factors of Urgent Care Visit Costs
It should be too much of a surprise that there are multiple aspects that determine how much you are going to have to pay. And like with most other medical visits, the aspects that affect the price of urgent care visits are the same; how complex the service provided is, how long you are there, the location of the provider, and if your insurance covers it.
Services and How Complex They Are
The biggest factor in determining how much you are going to have to pay for your urgent care visit is going to be the thing you are getting treated for and how complex the process to treat it will be. Anything that is going to have an x-ray or ultrasound will increase the price as mentioned earlier.
Minor things like flu tests, or COVID-19 tests, will be cheaper as they are quick and don’t take much to do, so they will typically just cost $100 to $200. But anything that requires machinery or is more complex like a sports injury or sprain will be more advanced and will typically cost you $140 to $400
Time at Provider
Another big factor in determining the price is how long you are going to be there. In most cases, a visit to an urgent care center will only take between 20-30 minutes, but if you have a serious issue that takes longer to treat, or if you just decide to stay and take up a room for extra time can cost you more. There aren’t any exact numbers on how much time affects the cost of your visit, however, know that if your visit is going on for an hour or more then you are going to have to expect your bill to be higher than average.
Insurance Coverage
While health insurance or other health insurance alternatives can help cover a portion of your visit to an urgent care center, you are limited in the fact that many health insurance providers don’t have a wide variety of urgent care centers that they provide coverage for. Even when health insurance covers part of the cost, you are still likely going to average paying around $100 or more depending on the health insurance plan you have.
Location
Another important factor that determines how much you are going to have to pay for your visit to urgent care is the state and city you are in. Some states just have higher or lower costs of medical services, and this can make a visit to an urgent care facility more expensive or cheaper by around $100.
Below is a chart of some of the largest cities in the United States and the average cost of a visit to an urgent care facility.
City | The Average Cost of an Urgent Care Visit |
---|---|
New York City, NY | $257 |
Las Vegas, NV | $242 |
San Antonio, TX | $194 |
Dallas, TX | $236 |
Philadelphia, PA | $193 |
Portland, OR | $239 |
Phoenix, AZ | $164 |
Fort Worth, TX | $229 |
Seattle, WA | $241 |
Tucson, AZ | $179 |
Chicago, IL | $215 |
Austin, TX | $237 |
Denver, CO | $259 |
Atlanta, GA | $200 |
Cincinnati, OH | $150 |
Richmond, VA | $191 |
Houston, TX | $229 |
Nashville, TN | $255 |
Pittsburgh, PA | $155 |
San Diego, CA | $215 |
Brooklyn, NY | $246 |
Los Angeles, CA | $252 |
Wilmington, DE | $170 |
Bronx, NY | $199 |
Columbus, OH | $195 |
San Francisco, CA | $304 |
Pasadena, CA | $248 |
Asheville, NC | $223 |
Baltimore, MD | $229 |
Washington, DC | $241 |
Scottsdale, AZ | $177 |
Oklahoma City | $172 |
Services an Urgent Care Facility Offers
Urgent care facilities offer a wide variety of different services, with most of them being fairly simple. They aren’t able to provide any services that are needed for emergency situations, those need to be treated at the emergency rooms. However, there are many things that urgent care facilities offer. Some of these services and treatments are:
- Annual Wellness Exams
- Blood Draws
- Blood Sugar Tests
- Chest X-rays
- Electrocardiogram (EKG)
- Flu Shots
- HIV TEsts
- IV Fluid
- Minor Burns
- MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella)
- Mono Tests
- Nebulizer Machines
- Pink Eye & Styes
- Pregnancy Tests
- School & Sport Physicals
- Sinus Infections & Congestion
- Sprains, Strains & Joint Pain
- Stitches (Only 1-5 Stitches)
- Strep or Sore Throat
- TDAP (Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis)
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
- X-Ray
Differences Between Urgent Care and the Emergency Room
While it may seem like the emergency room and urgent care are very similar to one another, they are very different. Some of the differences have been previously mentioned, but there are 2 big differences between the two that you should know that will help you know where to go in case of an emergency.
Price
The biggest difference between the emergency room and an urgent care center is the cost. Emergency rooms are going to be far more expensive, with or without health insurance, so if your problem is a minor one that can be solved at an urgent care facility, you are going to want to do urgent care.
The average urgent care visit costs just around $200, while a trip to the emergency room is ten times higher than that at an average price of $2,200.
Time to Receive Treatment
Another difference between both the emergency room and urgent care is the amount of time you are likely going to have to wait to receive treatment. At urgent care, you will likely have to wait around 20-30 minutes before being seen, while at an emergency room, the average wait time is dependent on the severity. For more severe injuries you will likely be seen within 30 minutes, while those with minor injuries or problems will likely have to wait at least an hour.
Services
As mentioned several times throughout this article, urgent care is best for those who aren’t having an emergency but can’t wait til their primary care provider opens up. These tend to be smaller things such as infections or sprains. For more serious injuries like broken bones, you will have to go to the emergency room.
Should You Go to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room?
The biggest factor that you should ask when determining urgent care or emergency room is going to be, “How bad is this injury or problem?” If it is a serious problem then you will want to go to an emergency room as they have access to much more powerful medicine and tools to help resolve your issue. If your injury or problem is something more minor, or anything mentioned on the list of services urgent cares offer, then you can go to either the emergency room or an urgent care facility.
Know that the cost of urgent care and the wait time at an urgent care facility is going to be far faster and lower than at the emergency room, but it is up to you whether you want to go to the emergency room or urgent care.
Type of visit | Level of care | Pros | Cons |
---|---|---|---|
Primary care | Routine care and non-life-threatening care | -Primary care doctor knows you best -Cheaper than going to urgent care or an emergency room | Might not be able to get an appointment |
Urgent care center | Prompt care or non-life-threatening issues | -Usually don’t need an appointment -Cheaper than the emergency room | More expensive than primary care visit |
Emergency room | Serious and life-threatening health issues | -Provides a higher level of care than primary care and urgent care -Don’t need an appointment | More expensive than primary care or urgent care |
Tips for Reducing the Cost of Urgent Care
Another positive for urgent care and the cost of urgent care is the fact that they often offered discounted rates for those who are paying entirely out of pocket for their medical expenses. This isn’t a guarantee, however, you can always ask urgent care facilities around you to learn if any do offer discounts. You might also be able to negotiate the standard fee even lower or work out a payment plan that makes the cost more affordable. But you should not count on this or expect it to be easy.
One of the best ways to reduce the cost of urgent care is to have a primary care membership with the urgent care center. With a primary care membership, you will pay a monthly fee in order to visit a care physician or a medical practice and they agree to take care of some of your medical needs.
Another option that you can try is to get a medical card. A health discount card allows the holder to receive discounted rates for different medical services at specific care providers. Many cards will typically have some sort of monthly fee, with many of them costing around $10 a month, however, there are also several options that are free. The discounts that the cards can offer are also going to be different, with some cards offering up to 85% off of any medical expenses.
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