I was admitted to the ER with severe pain to the Utah Valley Hospital. This was after I had consulted with my father, an anesthesiologist, about what to do. I have 3 close family members, all anesthesiologists - so I don't take their advice lightly. My father recommended I go in since severe stomach pain can be indicative of any number of 1000 different issues. They did a CT in the ER and determined it was appendicitis. Knowing how hospital bills can stack up quickly I pushed for surgery ASAP. I was told they scheduled the surgery for just a few hours later (around midnight). Assured that the surgery was routine (common and around 15 min total) and that it would be done laparoscopically (non-invasive). Met with my surgeon and anesthesiologist briefly.

Surgery done. Taken to room and immediately started asking what I needed to do to be discharged. They gave me some tasks, like sitting up, blowing on that stupid device, etc. Slept for a few hours until early Sat morn (5-6am-ish) and again pushed to be discharged. Initially I was told that I wouldn't be discharged for another 24 HOURS!!! Uhhh, no. I performed the stupid tasks they gave me and was persistent that I wanted out. The doc finally signed my discharge papers (a ridiculous process btw) and I left the hospital about 8 hours after surgery, 13-14 hours after entering the ER.

My bill was over $25,000. I was responsible for over $5k of that. Way more than we've paid for either of our two children - and they didn't even let me keep my appendix - jerks.

Here's what I was told - You and I are paying for 3 other individuals who got the EXACT same surgery but are never going to pay their bill (for whatever reason). The hospital will stick the bill on us because we have insurance while the others do not. But there are things anyone can (and should) do when faced with emergency situations like this in the future. Insta-care (as you mentioned) offers CT scans at a fraction of the cost that the hospital will take. And you need to make sure they do NOT duplicate the same CT scan. There's no reason for them to do this. Schedule your hospital visit with a doc at the hospital (If you can avoid the ER, DO IT). Depending on the severity of the issue you may be stuck behind a ton of other people waiting to be triage'd. Might as well not do the ER for non-life-threatening issues. I had been experiencing appendix "flare-ups" for months so mine was an atypical presentation for appendicitis but I probably could have waited.

I tried to file for financial assistance but I make too much and didn't qualify. So I was stuck with the bill...

In sum, labs and scans at Insta-care, avoid the ER if possible, schedule appt with physician, get surgery done, escape hospital. That's the best you can do. Good luck.