Emergency room or urgent care? Understand the differences and costs

EDINA, Minn. – You slipped on the stairs and feel your ankle throbbing. Your cough has lasted all month. Or your child spikes a high fever in the middle of the night. You call your primary care doctor first, but you can’t get a same-day appointment. So do you go to the emergency room or urgent care?

When these situations occur and people need immediate care, many face uncertainty due to the number of options available – and where they choose to go for help could be the difference between paying hundreds or thousands of dollars. In fact, rushing to the emergency room for non-life-threatening ai...