Limiting emergency room visits per year can be tricky for some patients who have no health insurance coverage. But there are many medical care visits per year to the ER.
Why Go to the Emergency Room Unnecessarily?
There are some people who want to check with their doctor about that funny looking mole on their leg every other day. And while this might be something to get checked out in a regular doctor’s appointment, some people want to go to the ER for the instant gratification of finding out whether it’s cancer or just a scab they’ve picked too often. On the other hand, people might have quite urgent medical problems to address, but the emergency room is still not the place to monitor chronic conditions.
Here’s what the emergency room is for:
- Bleeding you can’t stop
- Gaping wounds
- Breathing troubles
- Chest pain
- Extreme pain – the ‘worst’ of your life
- Vomiting which will not stop
- Extremely high fevers
- Trauma from a serious accident
- Suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts
While you might be able to be seen by a physician for other conditions, it’s best to ensure that you are only using the ER when you need it. This way, those who are extremely sick can be seen as quickly as possible.
Covering Emergency Room Visits Each Year
Most health insurance plans will cover a portion of the costs of an emergency room visit, or they will assign a co-pay which will need to be paid at a later date. These visits are not limited over the course of a year, but health insurance premiums may go up is there is a pattern of going to the ER rather than going to one’s general practitioner.
It’s best to simply avoid heading to the emergency room whenever possible. To do this, make sure that you are only going to the ER when you have an emergency that you can not solve on your own. And if you’re not sure, you might want to call the ER ahead of time to speak with a nurse on call. Some health insurance policies have an Ask a Nurse program which you can use to assess your current need for emergency care.