How much money costs getting a sprained ankle?

38 comments

1. Sounds like a question for the potential insurance companies.

2. Ice packs and a wrap are pretty cheap at CVS (~$10 total).

3. You can buy a ton of stuff over the counter here as compared to other countries. You don’t need a prescription for nominal pain killers and you can get other things as needed.

4. You don’t need a doc visit for sprained ankle
   Ice it
   Elevate it
   Stay off of it a couple of days

5. As the other comments said not doc for a sprain, if it’s broken or a ligament is torn that’ll cost a kidney

6. That varies wildly depending on where you go and what treatment you get.

   Just don’t go to the emergency room unless you have a truly debilitating or life threatening emergency and you’ll be fine probably. (ER’s cost hundreds just to be there regardless of what they do for you)

   Stuff like a sprain can be treated with over the counter stuff. An ice pack and a splint/brace can be bought at a pharmacy along with painkillers for maybe $20 all together.

   If you break your leg and need x-rays and cast, that gets more costly.

7. It’s impossible to know this because every healthcare provider sets its own prices and has individually negotiated payment plans with insurance companies, and every insurance policy offers varying levels of coverage. In other words nothing is standardized.

8. I currently have the best insurance I’ve had in my life at 42. If I was to go to a minor emergency clinic for a sprained ankle, it would probably run me a few hundred dollars. If I went to the ER, it would likely be somewhere closer to $800-$1200. I’m estimating these numbers because I was charged around $1200 just about a year ago for my kid’s trip to the ER for a minor wrist sprain (her dumbass bio-dad took her while she was with him), and about $350 the last time I took my other daughter to a minor emergency clinic for a sprain a few years before that.

   Unless I was concerned that I had broken my ankle, I wouldn’t do either of those things for a sprained ankle until after trying the following: I’d wrap it up, keep my weight off of it, and take over the counter medicines to reduce the pain.

   Ultimately though, it completely depends on the insurance you purchase and how much you want to pay up front to reduce the cost of a possible injury if one occurs.

9. $100 for me at the emergency room

10. Oddly specific injury you are planning for.

11. Wait, you go to the *doctor* for an ankle sprain?

12. Don’t go to a doctor for a sprained ankle, only go if there’s bad swelling to check for breaks.

13. $20.00 for my son recently, that was our co-pay.

    That said, you should always have travel insurance when traveling out of country if said country does not have a reciprocal health care policy (read, most countries not your own)

14. Uh…don’t stress it and alternate heat and cold.

    It has never occurred to me to go to a doctor for a sprain.

    Most stuff like that would count as an emergency room/urgent care visit under insurance. They’re generally a flat rate (I think $150 for my insurance it varies a lot) unless you get admitted or something. Any prescription would be on top.

    Point is: varies by insurance and you’d need to check with them, but that’s probably the line item you’re looking for.

15. If you go in without insurance it’s going to totally depend on what treatment is needed. Also, you probably don’t want to go to a hospital emergency room unless you feel like you have a serious problem or it’s the middle of the night and you need immediate help. ER’s tend to be very busy and you’ll usually be waiting a long time if you go there for something minor. Most towns have urgent care clinics that are a better choice for minor injuries (sprains, a few stitches, etc.) or just general “I think I’m sick” situations.

16. Get travelers insurance while in your own country. This sub can’t help you with the cost of that because we live in America.

    No one can tell you what an uninsured doctor’s visit would cost in the US, not even the doctor or hospital. It’s too variable. Probably at least a few hundred, though. Definitely more than traveler’s insurance.

17. I’ve always managed to sprain my ankle for free . . . ?

18. I sprained my knee a few years back and couldnt walk so I thought something was broken. Cost like $300 to get an x-ray at the clinic and get yelled at for not icing it and to take some OTC pain meds.

19. A 24 pack and I’ll sprain your ankle

20. If I went into a walk in clinic for such a thing it would cost me $10 with my insurance.

21. $20 with my insurance at urgent care

22. Why would you go to a doctor for a sprained ankle? Just prip it up on a pillow with an ice pack and you’ll be golden by the morning.

23. One of the terrible things about the US Healthcare system is that the cost of medical care will vary from hospital to hospital. With XRays and having a radiologist look at the results, it can cost thousands of dollars. Severe illness requiring a hospitalization can easily cost tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

24. Insurance would be a waste of money for a short stay, if you get injured, just haggle with the hospital, they put high prices because they are required to, not because they want to

25. Getting one is free.

    Getting one fixed is another story.

26. If memory serves most countries have resources available. If you’re planning to sprain your ankle fuck that drug store shit. Duct tape, a couple 16 inch 1×4s and a bottle of jack Daniels.

    I’m kidding… Partially… Like the drug store options everyone’s saying are definitely better, but when you’ve learned some shitty field medicine gotta share it. It is terrifying in honesty how much stuff you can swap medically with crap from a hardware store….

27. Too much. You should have a solid insurance plan. Even with the best plan, you should go to great lengths to make sure you don’t have to go to the hospital. Medical pricing in the US is absurd, and anyone who tells you differently is a shill. Hope this helps.

28. Remember OP comes from a different culture where they don’t put ice in drinks, and therefore has no means of treating a sprain save filing a request to be put on the wait list to go to their court appointed doctor.

29. You don’t need to see a doctor for a sprang.

    But once it is no longer painful do some balancing exercises on one foot at a time to rebuild strength and prevent re-sprang.

30. My question is why are you plotting specific injuries as you travel lol

31. There’s no way to quote a cost, but out of pocket for something simple like a sprain is probably $50-200. They’ll just wrap it and tell you to ice and take Advil.

32. $3.50

33. My in laws in Canada wouldn’t even go to the doctor for a sprain. Get an ice pack

34. Get proper travel insurance, OP. Without it, any medical incident could cost you thousands, depending on the severity and the care you need.

35. They can try billing you in your home country. Good luck with that. Don’t worry, we will eat the cost. Enjoy your stay

36. Nobody knows. Medical billing is a huge game between medical providers and insurance, so it might be $50 or $5000. Like I had a fairly basic preventative medical procedure recently that’s supposed to cost $1500-3000 based on a Google search, but my insurance was billed and paid over $20k and I owed $0.

37. You have to be a man and walk it off because there’s no crying is baseball, go White Sox

38. Depends on if you need a new one or if you can bring the sprained one in for repairs. How much mileage do you have on it?