Should you go to the ER or urgent care? The options can be complicated and costly

One evening in February 2017, Sarah Dudley's husband, Joseph, started to feel sick.

He had a high fever, his head and body ached, and he seemed disoriented, she said. The Dudleys had a decision to make: go to the hospital emergency room or to an urgent care clinic near their home in Des Moines, Iowa.

"ERs take five, six, seven hours before you're seen by a doctor, depending on how many people are there," Sarah said. "I know that I can go to an urgent care clinic and be seen within an hour."