Back in February, I had my semi-annual checkup. The doctor ordered some bloodwork. The lab that did it charged my insurance $2400 for the lab work, then the doctor hit them up for $499. The insurance company paid the lab $990, and the Dr $200, leaving me with $1410 for routine labs, and another $299 for the doctor. I paid the doctor, and I told the lab they could sue me, but I’m not paying that much for routine lab work.
I have a new doctor now. I am not paying $6000 a year for routine visits. This new one sent me to a different lab. What do you know, they lab work was completely covered by my insurance.
This is why I believe prices should be disclosed. Look, I get why you can’t say ahead of time what a visit will cost- there is no way to know ahead of time what will be needed. It’s like calling an auto mechanic, telling them your car is making an odd noise, and wanting to know what it will cost.
However, if I call that same mechanic and ask what it costs for a brake job or an oil change, they should know. Likewise, if I call a lab and say, “What’s the cost for a CBC, CMP, A1C and TSH panel?” You should be able to tell me. If you can’t, it’s because you are planning on scamming me depending on how deep you think my insurance company and my pockets are.
7 Comments
Joe Blow · October 5, 2026 at 1:40 pm
The last time I went to a Dr. (many years ago), I had lab-work done. That blood-test for colon or prostate cancer markers and a testosterone reading. Week goes by the PA calls, cancer test came back negative, testosterone was ‘normal’.
OK, great, but what WAS the testosterone number?
It was Normal.
I understand for my age/height/weight, etc. there is a range of numbers that constitutes ‘normal’, and it fell within that range, but I want to know what the actual number was.
If you want to discuss the test you’ll have to make an appointment to talk to the doctor.
No ma’am, no discussion needed. Just the number. So many milligrams per milliliter or something? It says it on the screen right there in front of you with the test reading that says it’s ‘normal’?
You’ll have to talk to the Dr. if you want to discuss the results, I am not authorized to talk about it.
Sigh… so I never paid the bill, they sent me to collections. When the collectors called, I told them the Dr won’t give me the test results, so I won’t pay the bill. They never called back. I still don’t know what my testosterone was 6 years ago, but allegedly the datapoint will be on my medical chart (which is really all I was after).
The whole industry is fucked. I pity you having to work in the field, wish my daughter wasn’t going to PA school.
Divemedic · October 5, 2026 at 2:18 pm
They have app for that now, one of the largest being called “My Chart.” The problem in your case was a provider is the only one allowed to interpret results. It used to be doctors only, since expanded to PA, NP, and others. It’s one of the antiquated and outdated things the medical profession still does.
Mitchell · October 5, 2026 at 4:07 pm
I really like “My Chart”, my test results show up well before my doctor ever sees them. I run them by my favorite AI and have my questions ready before I see the Doc. I’ve gotten pretty good with the various medical bots once I was diagnosed with cancer. It’s nice being prepared before the visit.
Grumpy51 · October 5, 2026 at 2:43 pm
I use Functionhealth.com
$365 annually for over 150 labs with review. I get my labs drawn a couple of weeks before my annual exam and bring the results with me.
Treefarmer · October 5, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Functionhealth.com is a good one. We’re looking at Rythmhealth.com now. They test you on a quarterly basis to see if there’s any trending in your results. We got sick of having doctors say yes/no to lab tests and then not really analyzing the results. We started buying lab tests directly (Lab Corp or Quest) 15 years ago and give our doctor a spreadsheet with 25 years of testing results. It’s often difficult to get a doctor to “authorize” a lab test until they can see some definitive symptoms in their eyes. That means it’s a “no” to preventative monitoring. For us, that meant they wouldn’t test for things like Vitamin D levels or CRP. Between doing your own testing and AI, the GP doctor should go the way of the blacksmith.
Worker · October 6, 2026 at 8:19 am
Retired now but worked in a hospital setting for decades (think ‘director of marketing’) which is a fancy way of saying ‘getting heads in beds’. This was a psychiatric type setting, but the same rules still apply. So, a number of years ago, I had to have surgery. When all was said and done, I received a ‘bill’ from the hospital for what was not covered by my insurance. The ‘billing department’ was unwilling to review the bill with me and talking with the insurance company was next to impossible. So, after wading through the billing/insurance verbiage (think purposefully constructed to be confusing) I demanded to have/see an itemized bill rather than a one-sheet ‘bill’ for a specific (inflated) amount. This is a ‘right’ by law in New Mexico. Lo and behold, everything changed to the tune of over 10K being reduced from the stated amount. Clearly most folks will not/cannot do this given the stress they are under and clearly the industry is aware of this also, Moral? The only one that can stand up for you, is you.
CS · October 6, 2026 at 2:55 pm
“I get why you can’t say ahead of time what a visit will cost- there is no way to know ahead of time what will be needed.”
Honestly, for most routine things, this is 100% garbage. 99% of doctors visits are standard visits where you can predict what labs they’ll run, if any at all. Pretty much all tests are the same. An MRI for instance is pretty straight forward and the only questions are what are we scanning and are we using contrast. Most of this is done in a way to maximize whatever they can get away with charging at this point depending on your insurance. We need to go back to 100% private pay and the consumer files with their insurance. That’ll bring back some price signals into the mix, but of course that won’t happen.
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