Emergency Room Treatments for life threatening injuries, sudden onset illness, apparent heart attack and other serious injuries are probably covered under your health plan.  If your health plan has an Emergency Room co payment, you may only have to pay the initial copay or if you are admitted to the ER, the copay may be waived.

Caution should be given to going to the Emergency Room for non-emergency procedures.  For example, you feel like you have the flu but your symptoms are not life threatening, this ER visit may not be covered.  If it is covered, perhaps you should have waited to go your family medicine practitioner because the bill came out to be $500.

Only go to the ER if you have life threatening our imminent danger that cannot be treated elsewhere. Do not use the ER as your primary care doctor.  Find a primary doctor.  Emergency Room physicians will treat you for anything that you come in to be treated for but their role is to help patients requiring acute care.

If you do not have a primary care doctor, talk to your family and friends and find out who their primary care doctor is and then develop a relationship.