Employers and insurers can expect to see a 6% increase in healthcare costs in 2019, according to the Medical Cost Trend report just released by PwC. If that’s the case, rest assured they won’t just be eating the cost, but passing the bump along to employees and plan members. Given that 12% of wages are presumed to go toward healthcare, all concerned parties will be looking to do more with less—which may make urgent care an even more appealing prospect than it already is. Medical Expenditure has reported the average cost of an urgent care visit to be less than $150, compared with charges of $1,354 for the average emergency room visit. Further savings can be realized if a trip to the urgent care center today prevents a hospitalization that could have occurred if a patient waited days to see their primary care provider, or even longer to see a specialist.