Another record-setting year of enrollment at Iowa State brings not only a crowded campus but also a growing need for convenient medical care.

Iowa State offers students the Theilen Student Health Center. Students are able to receive basic medical care there and can get everything from allergy medicine to more advanced services like X-rays and laboratory testing.

However, its services are confined to a work day that generally lasts from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days a week. Saturdays are the exception because staff are available from 8 a.m. to noon during the academic year.

This becomes quite inconvenient for students who seek medical care on nights, weekends and holidays. Going to an emergency room for nonemergency issues becomes the alternative.

More than 130 million Americans made visits to the emergency room in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The reason being is that ERs “specialize in the acute care of patients who arrive without an appointment and [are] typically open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said author Bill Fay in his article on emergency rooms versus urgent care for Debt.org.

Emergency rooms are more available and convenient for the average person. However, it comes with a price — literally.

A person who goes to the emergency room for minor medical needs, such as an earache, will spend nearly six times as much money to receive the same care as he or she would at a doctor’s office.

In some cases, having insurance will not cover the cost of emergency room care. For the Mary Greeley Medical Center, it depends on the circumstance.

“Many insurance companies require notification within a specific time period, often within 24 hours of an emergency room visit or emergency admission. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to make this notification,” according to the medical center’s website.

Even with the high cost and possibility of the insurance company not covering the bill, convenience is a higher priority.

According to a study done by the National Center for Health statistics, 48 percent of patients went to the emergency room because their doctor’s office was not open. 

A lot of people don’t realize that an urgent care clinic can be used as an alternative to an emergency room for medical services.

Urgent care usually handles problems that need immediate attention but are not life-threatening issues. Oftentimes, you will pay less for urgent care than you would to go to the emergency room.

The Student Health Center’s website offers contact information for McFarland Clinic for after-hour needs and the Mary Greeley Medical Center for emergency care. It also offers a 24-hour nurse who would be able to determine over the phone what kind of medical care is needed. However, what sets the Student Health Center apart from the other facilities within the Ames area is the option to put what isn’t covered by health insurance onto the student’s U-Bill.

Do not misunderstand — McFarland Clinic as well as Mary Greeley Medical Center offers financial assistance for which people can apply. But when it comes to convenience, being able to put the cost of the visit on the U-Bill instead of having to apply for more financial assistance makes more sense.

In a more perfect world, the Student Health Center would offer its students urgent care services or — better yet — partner with Mary Greeley Medical Center and McFarland Clinic so students would have the option to use their U-Bills toward paying the medical bill.