Medical costs in the US are outrageous! We’ve discussed this earlier. According to CNBC and many others, medical bills are the #1 cause of personal bankruptcies in the US!

Emergency Rooms can be some of the worst culprits when it comes to outrageous costs. They will charge $1 for a single ibuprofen tablet, while you can buy a bottle of 500 tablets at Costco for $5.

A single visit to the ER could cost thousands of dollars. A relative recently had to have a half-inch splinter removed from his leg. The cost? $6,100. Last year, a visitor went to the ER with a headache that could have been meningitis. She was discharged 4 hours later with no firm diagnosis. The cost? $8,500.

So what do you do about this? Avoid the ER, if at all possible!

But you still need medical care… what do you do? Go to an Urgent Care facility instead! (Update: What if you need an ER? See below…)

Austin Urgent Care Facilities

There are several Urgent Care clinics in the Austin area. To be able to use them effectively, you need to know which services they offer and where they are located.

Which Services Do Austin Urgent Care Clinics Offer?

Some typical services that Austin Urgent Care clinics offer are:

• Injuries, like sprains, breaks, bites, cuts, puncture wounds, etc.
• Illnesses, like allergies, asthma, diarrhea, headaches, flu, infections, etc.
• Diagnostics, like X-rays, lab tests, etc.
• Vaccinations, like meningitis, tetanus, flu, hepatitis B, etc.

Keep in mind, however:

• Some life-threatening conditions may  require that you visit an ER. An Austin Urgent Care clinic will probably tell you that very quickly. In such a case, see the update below.
• Urgent Care clinics are typically not open 24/7 like an ER, but they are open outside of office hours.

Where Can I Find An Austin Urgent Care Clinic?

Here is a map that shows the locations of many Urgent Care facilities in the Austin area.

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I would recommend that you take a careful look at the map and find one or two Austin Urgent Care facilities near you. Check out which services they offer.

If you do this, when the need arises, you will be prepared and won’t automatically go to the ER where you are likely to get ripped off on costs.

Update: What If You Need An ER?

Sometimes your medical situation needs an ER. My best advice is to look for a free-standing ER. This is an ER that is not associated with a large hospital group. (Note: Sometimes a large hospital group will build an ER that is in a building away from the hospital. That is not a free-standing ER.)

One such free-standing ER is Cedar Park Emergency Center.  They are a full ER that can handle any type of medical emergency. For people with health insurance, they charge mandated ER fees. If you don’t have health insurance, or your health insurance company sticks you with the bill, CPEC will work out a much better financial deal than a hospital-based ER will. CPEC is also on the map above.

PS. What are your experiences with ER and Austin Urgent Care facilities? Tell us in the comments…

The question is, are high US medical costs simply out of control or are they justifiable?

A friend who recently visited us from South Africa (i.e. no US health insurance) got sick on a Saturday evening. All of the symptoms pointed to the possibility of meningitis.

After a quick call to our family physician, we took off to the ER of a newly-built hospital not too far from where we live.

Upon arrival at 8 p.m., the ER staff immediately tended to our guest and provided all of us with masks just in case it was meningitis. Our guest was put in a room in the ER. Some blood tests and a CT scan were done. Our guest was also put on a drip to provide liquids and given some pain medication.

In total, the attending physician spent maybe 20 minutes with the patient, and the nurse spent maybe an hour, if that long. In the end, with long periods of waiting alone in the room, we were sent home at about 1 a.m. with a prescription for some medication. Luckily, no meningitis.

The service was excellent, but then came the bills. The cost of this little excursion to the ER… a little over $8,000.

A Comparison of Medical Costs

Earlier this week, a family member of ours fainted and was taken to the ER of a private hospital in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Some blood tests, an EKG and a CT scan were done. Everything was found to be in good order, but to be safe, it was decided to take our family member up into the High Care unit of the hospital for the night.

All went well and the patient was sent home the next morning.

By all accounts, this hospital also provided excellent care. The cost for the ER care and a night in High Care? R14,000 or a little over $1,500 at the current exchange rate.

That is less than 20% of the cost of our trip to the ER here in the US!

US Medical Costs: Outrageous or Justifiable?

Before this second ER incident with our family member took place, I looked at the $8,000 bill for the first ER incident and simply could not see where $8,000 in value comes from.

$8,000 provides housing for a family for many months. It can buy a used vehicle that can be driven for a few years. It can buy food for a family of four for at least a year. How is it possible that 5 hours in an ER, with not much more than basic care provided, can cost $8,000?

After the second ER incident took place, it confirmed in my mind exactly how outrageous the cost of medical care in the US can be.

As our politicians like to remind us prior to each election, our medical care system is broken. It is not that the service is bad, but rather that the medical costs to patients are out of control.

I am not convinced that simply forcing everybody to have medical insurance is the solution. The crazy high medical costs will simply find its way back into the pockets of the American people in the form of high insurance premiums.

What Do You Think?

So what do you think about medical costs in the US? Is it outrageously high or can it be justified? Take our poll below and leave a comment…