The most expensive states for emergency room visits, ranked

Have you ever been to a hospital emergency room? Maybe you broke your leg or had a burst appendix. In a medical emergency, an emergency room visit could mean the difference between life and death.

But, like many things in the American healthcare system, the cost of this type of life-saving hospital care varies widely depending on where you live or the hospital you visit.

Hospital Pricing Specialists collected billing data from nearly 4,500 hospitals across the country to estimate the average price of a moderate-severity emergency room visit – the most common type of visit – in each state. (Think of a sharp pain of unknown origin or a fever over 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit.)

The overall price includes emergency room costs, laboratory and x-ray tests, pharmacy and supplies costs, and other hospital costs. Each line item also includes charges that are used to pay the health care providers themselves.

In this gallery, the figures are presented before any medical insurance. Here are the 50 states (and Washington, DC) ranked by the cost of preinsuring a moderate-severity emergency visit.