There are many questions to ask when considering visiting an urgent care center near you. What is urgent care for? What does urgent care treat? How much is a urgent care visit? All of these questions are important, especially for those who traditional venues for healthcare have become prohibitively expensive, particularly those who do not have health insurance.

Many people wonder “how much is a free clinic visit?” and the answer is, although there is still a price, free clinic centers charge considerably less than other places that offer medical treatment to the uninsured, such as an emergency room. While an emergency room visit can cost upwards of one thousand dollars, a free clinic visit to treat a similar medical concern will cost as little as one hundred and fifty dollars. Aside from wondering “how much is a urgent care visit?” many people are also concerned about how long they will have to wait before they see a doctor. Urgent care centers have remarkably short wait times, with an overall average of only around fifteen minutes before seeing a doctor. On the other hand, emergency rooms frequently have wait times of as long as an hour. Because of these reasons as well as others, around 3 million patients visit an urgent care center every single week, and urgent care centers employ a total of around 20,000 doctors and medical professionals in the United States.

Aside from wondering “how much is a free clinic visit?”, people also often wonder when to go to urgent care and what can be treated in an free clinic facility. The answer is, more than many people realize. Urgent care centers are well equipped to treat many minor illnesses and injuries, such as ankle sprains, of which there are at least 25,000 every single day. Dizziness is also a common symptom seen in many urgent care centers, as it affects around 70% of the population at least once in their lives. Ear infections are another common illness that can be diagnosed and treatment by a doctor in an urgent care center. Ear infections are incredibly common, particularly among young children, of who nearly 5 out of 6 will have at least one ear infection before they are three, and many will have more. But urgent care centers can provide more serious care, such as diagnosis and treatment of injuries like fractures, of which 80% of all urgent care centers have the proper tools to treat. In fact, as many as 65% of all cases that are seen in the emergency room could have been competently and thoroughly treatment in an urgent care facility instead, thus saving the patient a considerable amount of time as well as money.

An urgent care facility offers the ability to receive treatment for many who would otherwise not be able to seek medical care, such as those who do not have access to health insurance. Urgent care facilities are also considerably less expensive, as well as more time efficient than seeking treatment in an emergency room. For those wondering how much is a urgent care visit, fear not, because the vast majority of urgent care centers are nothing if not affordable.