Do your due diligence before you receive an ER bill and also check the hospital's financial assistance guidelines. While many folks assume this is only for non-insured or low-income situations, there typically is an option for insured to under-insured patient as well. You must meet their guidelines to qualify.
Necessary ER Visits
There is lot of grey area here but the affordable care act defines an emergency as anything that "a prudent layperson, possessing an average knowledge of medicine and health" would believe to be emergent and in need of immediate attention.
That leaves it to patient to self diagnose and then decide which is the most prudent place to go. Of course, it does not help that ER staff and doctors often cannot determine if an ER visit is necessary without examining the patient and possibly performing additional tests to rule out a condition.
True Emergencies
While coughs, sore throats, and headaches are usually not emergencies, the reality is that the journal of American medicine discovered that six of the top ten symptoms of real emergencies.
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