Who This Helps: Uninsured New Yorkers, anyone whose primary care doctor has a three-week wait, parents whose kids spike a fever at 11 p.m., gig workers without sick days, immigrants who need care without paperwork worries, and anyone who has wondered whether a virtual appointment can actually replace the urgent-care waiting room.
Picture this: it is 9:47 p.m. on a Tuesday. Your sore throat has turned into a full-on losing-the-ability-to-swallow situation. Your primary care provider’s office closed at 5. The nearest urgent care has a 90-minute wait and will charge you $250 if you do not have the right insurance. The ER will bill you four figures. What you may not know is that there is a third option run by NYC Health + Hospitals — and you can be talking to a board-certified provider in about ten minutes, in over 200 languages, for as little as zero dollars depending on your income.
It is called ExpressCare, and it is one of the most underused free public-health resources in the five boroughs.
What ExpressCare Is (And What It Replaces)
ExpressCare is the urgent-care service of NYC Health + Hospitals — the public hospital system. It is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by phone or video, in addition to in-person walk-in centers across all five boroughs. Per the official ExpressCare website (expresscare.nyc), the service is built for “common physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral health issues that are not emergencies.”
What that means in plain English: if you would otherwise drag yourself to an urgent care storefront or call out sick from a primary care office hoping for a same-day slot, ExpressCare is the public system’s answer for those situations.
What ExpressCare Actually Treats
Per the official ExpressCare site, the service treats the following conditions remotely:
- COVID-19 symptoms
- Cold symptoms (stuffy nose, cough, sneezing)
- Flu symptoms (fever or body aches)
- Sinus infections, sore throats, allergies
- Asthma
- Minor cuts, burns, sprains and strains
- Urinary tract infections
- Upset stomach or diarrhea
- STD testing referrals, PrEP and PEP (HIV prevention medication)
- Abortion care and options counseling (9 a.m.–9 p.m., seven days)
For behavioral health, the service treats:
- Substance use disorders
- Anxiety, depression, stress, burnout
- Withdrawal symptoms
- Other emotional distress
If you walk into an in-person ExpressCare center, additional services include COVID-19 care, broken bones and stitches, vaccinations and immunizations, x-rays and ultrasound, lab testing, travel health, and infusion medications.
What ExpressCare Does NOT Treat — Call 911 Instead
This part matters: ExpressCare is explicitly not for emergencies. Per the official site, the following conditions require 911 or the nearest emergency room:
Medical emergencies — severe bleeding or burns, head injuries, severe uncontrolled pain, poisoning, severe vomiting, pregnancy complications.
Behavioral health emergencies — thoughts of harming yourself or others, violent or erratic behavior, feeling like you have lost touch with reality. For mental health crises specifically, call or text 988 (the NYC mental health crisis line, free and confidential, 24/7) before going to the ER if you can.
This is general information, not medical advice. Contact your healthcare provider, ExpressCare, or 911 for advice specific to your situation.
How Much It Costs (The Actual Numbers)
Most NYC urgent-care storefronts will not list prices on their website. ExpressCare publishes its self-pay rate schedule directly, verified on expresscare.nyc:
- Virtual Medical Urgent Care: $125 per visit
- Virtual Sexual Health Urgent Care: $125 per visit
- Virtual Behavioral Health (Psychiatrist): $175 per visit
- Virtual Behavioral Health (Clinical Social Worker): $125 per visit
- Virtual Behavioral Health (Addiction Counselor): $125 per visit
- Virtual Abortion Care & Options Counseling: $266 per visit
But here is the critical detail: if you cannot afford to pay, “Virtual ExpressCare will provide care and connect patients to trained financial counselors who can help them enroll in health insurance coverage or financial assistance through NYC Care, Medicaid, and Medicare, with per visit fees as low as $0, depending on patients’ income and family size.” That is a direct quote from the ExpressCare site.
Translation: a sliding scale, with a floor of zero, and a financial counselor will work with you during the same visit.
Insurance Accepted
ExpressCare accepts most major insurance plans. The full list published on the official site includes Aetna, Cigna, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, Healthfirst, Fidelis Care, MetroPlus, United Healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare, Affinity by Molina, Emblem-GHI, Emblem-HIP, Multiplan, Oscar, Senior Whole Health, VA Community Care Network, WellCare, and MagnaCare. Patients with insurance may pay a copay depending on coverage. Without insurance, the program will help you enroll in NYC Care or another financial-assistance option in the same conversation.
The In-Person Walk-In Locations (Verified)
If a virtual visit will not work for what you need, here are the verified NYC Health + Hospitals locations that offer ExpressCare and broader urgent care, with their phone numbers and addresses from expresscare.nyc:
Bronx
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln — 234 East 149th Street, Bronx, NY 10451. Phone: 718-579-5000. ExpressCare Hours: Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi — 1400 Pelham Parkway South, Bronx, NY 10461. Phone: 718-918-5000.
- Gotham Health, Belvis — 545 East 142nd Street, Bronx, NY 10454. Phone: 718-579-4000.
- Gotham Health, Morrisania — 1225 Gerard Avenue, Bronx, NY 10452. Phone: 718-960-2781.
- North Central Bronx — 3424 Kossuth Avenue, Bronx, NY 10467. Phone: 718-918-5700.
Brooklyn
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull — 760 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11206. Phone: 718-963-8000.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County — 451 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203. Phone: 718-245-3131.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island — 2601 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11235. Phone: 718-616-3000.
- Gotham Health, East New York — 2094 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207. Phone: 718-388-5889.
- Gotham Health, Cumberland — 100 North Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205. Phone: 718-388-5889.
Manhattan
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue — 462 First Avenue, NY, NY 10016. Phone: 212-562-5555.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem — 506 Lenox Avenue, NY, NY 10037. Phone: 212-939-1000.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan — 1901 First Avenue, NY, NY 10029. Phone: 212-423-6262.
- Gotham Health, Sydenham — 264 West 118th Street, NY, NY 10026. Phone: 212-932-6500.
- Gotham Health, Gouverneur — 227 Madison Street, NY, NY 10002. Phone: 212-238-7897.
Queens
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst — 79-01 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373. Phone: 718-334-4000.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens — 82-68 164th Street, Jamaica, NY 11432. Phone: 718-883-3000.
- Gotham Health, Roosevelt — 37-50 72nd Street, Jackson Heights, NY 11372. Phone: 844-NYC-4NYC (844-692-4692).
Staten Island
- Gotham Health, Vanderbilt — 165 Vanderbilt Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10304. Phone: 844-692-4692.
What Happens When You Call (Step by Step)
- Connect by phone or video — call 631-EXP-Care (631-397-2273) or click “Talk to a Provider Now” at expresscare.nyc. You must be physically located inside New York State at the time of the visit.
- Registration — an NYC Health + Hospitals staff member completes intake, including insurance verification. If you do not have insurance, they will offer to connect you with a financial counselor in the same visit.
- Provider visit — a board-certified emergency room, behavioral health, or abortion care provider assesses you, prescribes if needed, and outlines next steps.
- Prescription handling — medications are sent to the pharmacy of your choice.
- Follow-up — if you do not already have a primary care provider, ExpressCare staff will help you find one inside the NYC Health + Hospitals system.
- Immediate transfer to the ER if your symptoms warrant it.
Why This Matters Right Now
NYC Health + Hospitals reports that ExpressCare serves approximately 100,000 patients annually, with a 95% satisfaction rate per the official site. The service was originally built during the early COVID-19 pandemic to keep non-emergency patients out of overwhelmed ERs, and it has since expanded to medical, behavioral health, sexual health, and abortion care.
The reason it matters now: with Essential Plan changes scheduled for July 1, 2026 (covered in our prior Essential Plan article) and ongoing Medicaid renewal pressure, more New Yorkers will find themselves in coverage gaps this summer. ExpressCare is one of the few options that will see you in those gaps without forcing you to choose between an unaffordable bill and skipping care entirely.
How to Take Action Right Now
- Save this number in your phone: 631-EXP-Care (631-397-2273).
- Bookmark: expresscare.nyc.
- For mental health crisis: Call or text 988 (free, confidential, 24/7, 200+ languages).
- For emergencies: 911.
- To enroll in NYC Care for ongoing primary care: Call 1-646-NYC-CARE (1-646-692-2273) or visit nyccare.nyc.
- NYC Health + Hospitals main directory: nychealthandhospitals.org/locations.
This article is general information, not medical advice. Contact your healthcare provider for advice specific to your situation. For emergencies, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Sources Used for This Article
- ExpressCare official site: expresscare.nyc
- NYC Care About page: nyccare.nyc/about
- NYC Health + Hospitals locations: nychealthandhospitals.org/locations
- NYC 988 mental health crisis line: nyc988.cityofnewyork.us
