Unless its an actual emergency, go to urgent care. I live in a pretty expensive area of California and they still only charge $95 per person they see. And our insurance covers it completely. And rightly so, they would much prefer a $95 bill to a $14,000 one.
With kids we go a couple times per year. They definitely have saved us a lot of money and time.
Years ago I crashed my mountain bike and had a high suspicion that I had broken one of my fingers. Urgent care was closed by the time I got home and cleaned up and my college roommate was in town so I met up with him after taping my fingers together to prevent unnecessary/unplanned movement. Urgent care confirmed a break the next morning, and fixed everything for $300. Healed perfectly.
Anyway, anecdotes are just that, but the emergency room is not the place to go for "simple" things like a possible sprain, minor break.
Deep cut at 9pm... emergency room is only option.
In contrast if you have not met your deductible and say you’re paying cash, it’s often cheaper as the cash price is something like $75.
I got in an argument once at an urgent care on this topic. I asked how much they would bill my insurance (“We can’t/won’t tell you) vs not having insurance and paying cash price ($75). They then proceeded to insist I give them my insurance information as “Sir- you must use your insurance. That’s illegal!”.