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How to Save Money on Urgent Care

This post is a sponsored conversation on behalf of Amwell. All opinions are my own.

Cold and flu season is here once again, so I wanted to take a moment and give some tips on using online doctor visits this winter (and beyond!) These have literally made life SO MUCH EASIER. There’s nothing worse than dragging a sick kid out to urgent care, or schlepping out in the cold and snow to go sit in a waiting room for EVER surrounded by other sick folks. Yuck. 

Did you know that you can see (yes, really SEE) a doctor without leaving your home? Without getting out of your jammies? Without waking your feverish little ones? 

Its the best thing since grocery delivery friends, and I have a way you can try it out for 50% off your first visit!

Keep reading to get your coupon code below!

When the nearest urgent care isn’t close enough

Last year, I was sitting at my desk, working on blog stuff. Charlie (our then-5 month old kitten) was parading back and forth across my keyboard. After an hour or so of him marching in front of my screen, stomping on random keys, me picking him up, putting him on the floor or the other side of my desk, him hopping right back up and repeating this fun new game of his, I started to get annoyed.

I scooped him up in my arms and cradled him like a baby. He let out a small meow of disapproval, twitching his tail in annoyance but I was not dissuaded. I continued to cradle him in my arms and chided gently “you listen here Mr. Charlie. Momma has work to do, so you need to stop walking across my keyboard and go snuggle in your desk bed”.

Yes, he has a desk bed. Complete with a desk lamp that shines just on him to keep him warm. He loves desk bed. But he loves being a mischievous kitten even more.

In hindsight, that tiny warning meow should have been a clue to me that this was about to go terribly, terribly wrong.

Charlie doesn’t like being held like a baby.

I should have just walked him out of my office and shut the door. I should have taken a break to play with him and his laser pointer or feather toy to wear him out. But I didn’t. I didn’t heed his warning just like he didn’t heed mine.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out well for me.

Charlie (in a split second) reached up and slapped me in the eye. And when I say slap, I mean claw. And when I say claw, I mean his teeny tiny murder blades.

grey tabby kitten laying on bed

Anyway, back to the bloodbath.

So here I am, home alone on a weekday, blood gushing from the newly bored HOLE IN MY EYELID. I try to remain calm and think to myself “what the hell am I going to do now?”. Everyone I know is at work, I work from home, but the idea of driving myself to the nearest urgent care with one contact lens and blood dripping from my eyelid just didn’t sound safe.

I could Uber, but I’ve never done it and didn’t want to start now by freaking out some unsuspecting driver. And I could tell this wasn’t really an emergency situation (the eyelid was not cut all the way through THANK GOODNESS) and it wasn’t like I was going to bleed to death, so an ambulance was not really a viable option. 

Not to mention urgent care prices are usually pretty bananas.

Then I started thinking if I *did* go to the nearest urgent care, I was going to be surrounded by dozens of people with the flu. So I could have a hole in my eyelid AND be blasted with flu germs? No thanks.

So I considered my options. I had done online doctor visits before, but I thought the minute I said I was bleeding from my eye they would send me right to the ER because they couldn’t SEE the injury. While it sounds horrible (and admittedly looks pretty gross) it wasn’t a life or death situation, but I needed medical care so as not to get an infection.

I decided to try Amwell because they offer VIDEO urgent care visits, which is pretty much the coolest thing ever. You get to SEE a doctor (and they get to SEE you) on demand!

I logged in, and within a few minutes I was chatting with the nicest doctor, who immediately told me how to properly clean the wound, stop the bleeding, prescribed me an antibiotic which she sent right to my local pharmacy, and gave me some aftercare tips. She even chatted with me a minute or two about my naughty Charlie. I got to SEE her face to face and more importantly she got to see me and the wound and assured me that it was nothing to worry about!

Urgent care costs are crazy 

Amwell virtual urgent care visits are cheaper than regular urgent care visits to begin with (in my experience with very expensive urgent care visits in the past) but also there’s a 50% off coupon code for your first visit!

What does urgent care cost without insurance these days? I’m actually scared to ask. 

Where can I find an Amwell coupon code?

Since I loved my visit with Amwell so much, I wanted to share about it with you guys AND give you a 50% off coupon code to use on your first $69 urgent care visit with Amwell to try them out!

Simply create an account at Amwell, and use coupon code Amwell50 to get the discount. This is good on any visit with Amwell for yourself or your child. You can have your visit via computer OR through their mobile app available on Apple or Android.

Save this post, book mark this page, write down that code because while I’m not a psychic, I bet someone in your house gets sick or injured this winter! And unless you enjoy bundling the kids to drag them to a doctor’s office, this is a much more safe, healthy and cost-effective way of dealing with those pesky ailments any time of year. 

Does Amwell work with insurance?

YES! Amwell works with insurance too, but if you don’t have insurance, it’s a VERY affordable way (especially with that sweet coupon code up there ^) to get the care you need! 

Fortunately, Charlie is a big grown boy now, and is MUCH better behaved now that we got him a little sister to take all his crazy kitty energy out on. He’s learned a lot more manners now, but I feel better knowing that if I ever need a doctor I can get one right in my own home. Whether it’s because of a naughty cat or not!

Compensation was provided by Amwell via Momtrends.  The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Amwell or Momtrends. 

AND if you need help saving money on your prescriptions (whether from an online doctor visit or your regular doctors) check out this post about comparing prescription prices.