How To Find Low Cost Lab For Annual Blood Work?

[NoiseBoy]

While I was working I received a full physical with blood work annually for free (after age 49). Both were handled by the medical office at my company. It was a terrific benefit. Since I retired, I've paid roughly $1,200 per year for the annual wellness exam office visit and lab work. It's pretty much all been out of pocket as I am on a high deductible plan. The blood draw and lab work have been about $750. I get the blood drawn at my doctor's office and they send it to the lab at the in-network hospital for analysis. These are just the standard fasting labs that are part of an annual wellness exam.

My next exam is scheduled for early March and I'd like to save some money on the lab work, but I can't find any resource to help me identify a low-cost provider for lab work. The on-line tools have many categories, but none for finding a "lab" provider, so I thought I'd ask this forum for ideas. My lab orders for this year are already "in the system".

 

[MissMolly]

I have heard Quest Diagnostics has good prices. Here is their "menu".

https://www.questhealth.com/shop

 

[braumeister]

requestatest.com and walkinlab.com are both good resources for this purpose. Some of us have used them both for years.

 

[FIREd_2015]

It depends on which tests/combination of tests you want. I've been using Jasonhealth.com the past 2 years. The test is done through Quest. Another one is ultalabtests.com

As previously mentioned, you can also order the test directly on Quest's website. The prices can vary quite a bit for the same test. I did a price comparison of the total cost for all the tests I wanted and Jasonhealth.com was slightly cheaper.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I used the LabLocator link on the WalkInLab.com website and got two hits for nearby labs. One is a LabCorp location in a Walgreens in my city and there are two Quest locations 40 minutes away. I'm going to start by checking out the LabCorp option in town. Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I have a follow up question; do these internet labs have the ability to update my electronic health records? I really like being able to see 10 years of lab results graphed by test.

 

[MissMolly]

I used the LabLocator link on the WalkInLab.com website and got two hits for nearby labs. One is a LabCorp location in a Walgreens in my city and there are two Quest locations 40 minutes away. I'm going to start by checking out the LabCorp option in town. Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I have a follow up question; do these internet labs have the ability to update my electronic health records? I really like being able to see 10 years of lab results graphed by test.

Your doctor can probably do that. I get semiannual blood work with one doctor and when the results come in I send them to my PCP and they add them to my chart.

 

[Bigdawg]

https://www.labcorp.com/

I've used labcorp a few times. Very reasonable.

 

[athena53]

I started with RequestaTest after Braumeister mentioned it here- very happy with them. A fried in AZ tells me it's not available there, though.

I had tests done directly through Quest once and was annoyed because they had someone call me and read me some boilerplate text on the possible implications of my borderline-high cholesterol and asked if I wanted to talk to a "medical professional". The information she provided was at the level you can get in a Google search and I have a cardiologist. Waste of my time.

 

[REWahoo]

A fried in AZ...

I think they prefer to be called Arizonians, not frieds, but I could be mistaken.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I think they prefer to be called Arizonians, not frieds, but I could be mistaken.

True, but it does get hot enough to fry an Arizonan on the sidewalk.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Also check LabCorp. I've been very happy with them. LabCorp gets you prices without you giving them your email first, unlike Quest.

 

[Time2]

I have a follow up question; do these internet labs have the ability to update my electronic health records? I really like being able to see 10 years of lab results graphed by test.

I use Quest. They have online records of all your tests past and present. Their site will graph all your tests over time as well as let you see the complete results from each time you got tested. Really nice.

I suspect other testing companies do the same, but I only know Quest.
At one time they tried to charge a fee to see all your records, that didn't last long, not sure if they had customer complaints or if the government stepped in.

 

[jschner]

I routinely get labs from Life Extension. The CBC/Lipid panel is $35. Sometimes on sale for $26. What they call the Male Panel is $299, checks lipids, plus numerous other things like Thyroid, A1C and other tests. They use Labcorp offices.

 

[badatmath]

I started with RequestaTest after Braumeister mentioned it here- very happy with them. A fried in AZ tells me it's not available there, though.

I had tests done directly through Quest once and was annoyed because they had someone call me and read me some boilerplate text on the possible implications of my borderline-high cholesterol and asked if I wanted to talk to a "medical professional". The information she provided was at the level you can get in a Google search and I have a cardiologist. Waste of my time.

Sonoraquest has an option to request your own right on their site I was looking at it today. It was $5 less than requestatest for the one I wanted. (Also in AZ). Basically fill it out, pay, schedule appt so it says. I didn't book it (yet). I always have bad luck at that lab and don't like to use it (they lose stuff and make me do it over). . . normally my doc has on site blood draw so whatever they do with it it hasn't ever been missing there.

 

[jim584672]

I'm a bit curious why you all need to be paying for blood work. It has always been covered in my plans. Is this a Medicare thing?

 

[braumeister]

I'm a bit curious why you all need to be paying for blood work. It has always been covered in my plans. Is this a Medicare thing?

Would you like to know something about yourself but your doctor doesn't think it's important enough to test for it? That's why.

 

[NoiseBoy]

I'm a bit curious why you all need to be paying for blood work. It has always been covered in my plans. Is this a Medicare thing?

I am not on Medicare yet. I have retiree health insurance from my former employer. I've chosen the high deductible option so I am out of pocket for pretty much everything. If I switch to the PPO option, then I think the amount that I would pay for my wellness exam would go way down, but my monthly premiums would go way up My premium is less than $75/month now and I get a $550 annual contribution into my HSA from my former employer. So yeah, I do have to remind myself that my premiums are really, really low sometimes.

 

[athena53]

I'm a bit curious why you all need to be paying for blood work. It has always been covered in my plans. Is this a Medicare thing?

My cholesterol is borderline high and my a1c has been as high as 6.0, indicating pre-diabetes. It's now at 5.3. I prefer to control those numbers through diet and exercise and don't want to wait a year before I find that things have gone south so I get bloodwork every 3-4 months. I also noticed once in checking my on-line medical records that I was at one point given a diagnosis of "pre-diabetes". No one told me.

I also got one scare when I went for my first checkup after Medicare. Doc ordered the usual bloodwork including a1c and cholesterol, and Medicare kicked those two back as "not medically necessary", indicating that I was on the hook for $800. A couple of days later I got another letter- the lab had forgotten to have me sign an Advance Beneficiary Notice agreeing to reimburse them for anything Medicare refuse, so I DIDN'T owe anything. Yes, I know it was improperly coded but when I asked the office to file a correction nothing happened.

So, I no longer deal with that doctor (although I really liked her) because her staff was unresponsive and the last 3 times I'd had to cool my heels in the lab waiting room till the doc's office opened at 9 AM because they couldn't find the orders for the tests Now when I get tested I know exactly what it will cost, the orders are in the system and there are no surprise bills or coding errors.

I know I'm privileged that I can shrug at the costs and get tested as often as I feel it's necessary but it also means I'm saving Medicare money since I pay out of pocket and am probably avoiding some expensive conditions.

 

[Slowgowing]

I get blood tests while I am outside of my health insurance's service area. I purchase tests through discountedlabs.com. The bloodtests are performed at a Quest lab location.

For the tests I order, discountedlabs.com prices are less expensive than going through Quest directly and after a quick look, appear to be less expensive than both requestatest and Labcorp.

 

[badatmath]

Would you like to know something about yourself but your doctor doesn't think it's important enough to test for it? That's why.

In my case I wanted to check thyroid (TSH) since I lost weight in case meds needed adjustment which happens sometimes for no apparent reason anyway. Doc refused to order the lab when I msg'd even though I have been on meds 40+ years unless I had office visit. (Which I was only there a few months ago so not like really out of date). Something else came up when I was starting to book it so I just dropped it yesterday.

I feel a bit off but I think it is likely due to a very stressful January and nothing of consequence. Not sure I will bother to check if I have to get office visit since I can either go to a lab or wait until my physical.

 

[athena53]

And another reason: Good to have a baseline. My PCP looked at my results and noted that my white blood cell count was low. I was able to tell her it's been that way for years. Don't know why- I have a pretty robust immune system. End of conversation.

 

[Surewhitey]

I've used Ulta lab tests in the past. They sent me to a local Quest for the work though...

 

[Trooper]

Would you like to know something about yourself but your doctor doesn't think it's important enough to test for it? That's why.

^ This.

For those of you that private-pay for blood tests, what is your experience when you get a result that's out of range? Will your PCP accept the non-ordered results and commence treatment, or will he/she need their own tests anyway?

I've only been on Medicare for about a year, but had a similar experience as Athena when I had a physical, not knowing Medicare doesn't cover them nor the blood work, unless there is a known issue.

 

[badatmath]

^ This.

For those of you that private-pay for blood tests, what is your experience when you get a result that's out of range? Will your PCP accept the non-ordered results and commence treatment, or will he/she need their own tests anyway?

I've only been on Medicare for about a year, but had a similar experience as Athena when I had a physical, not knowing Medicare doesn't cover them nor the blood work, unless there is a known issue.

I haven't actually done this but I'd assume they'd order own tests as my doctors don't even accept labs from other docs! Which is annoying. . . Or like my last odd one they were like "eh nothing we can do about this result anyway". . .

 

[athena53]

For those of you that private-pay for blood tests, what is your experience when you get a result that's out of range? Will your PCP accept the non-ordered results and commence treatment, or will he/she need their own tests anyway?

I don't deal much with my PCP- she just keeps me supplied with my one prescription that deals with a symptom of menopause.

My cardiologist accepts the lab results- I send a copy to the office and they get into the system. I went down the rabbit hole of checking Apo-B, which few docs order, found it was off the charts, did more research, found that the Apo-A to Apo-B ratio was more important, found that was OK and that in deciding whether to medicate (PCSK9 inhibitors $1,000+/month out-of-pocket) you need to look at the whole patient. In my case, healthy weight, active, healthy eating habits, calcium score of 1, doc ordered a treadmill test 2.5 years ago and hasn't repeated it so I must have "passed".

Cardiologist agreed- no reason to get excited. I suppose it's an example of a patient having enough information to get thrown into panic without knowing the context, but I'd rather be over-informed.