Expensive Blood work

I had the extensive blood work done 3 months after surgery in January. I was surprised about how much the lab charged for these tests. Although some of the charge was reduced after "the normal adjustments for standard costs" I had some out of pocket expense which I generally don't have because we have double insurance right now.

I'm just wondering if my PCP coded the blood work request correctly. I believe this is necessary and don't want to not ask for tests because BC/BS is not paying enough for it.

So I'm just want to ask if there is a special code for a person who has a reason to make sure everything is in the right range such as an RNY patient is coded differently.

My share of my last lab work was $255, which is 10% of the $2550 the lab actually charged.  Yikes!

Usually insurance only covers blood work if they think it is necessary.  They probably wouldn't have paid for any of it if they thought it was not necessary.  I don't think there is a special code that makes them charge less.

Somewhere I have a list of codes.  I know I do but have no clue where.  I think there is one for "malabsorption" and one for something like "post surgical malabsorption."  I think my doc usually puts both on mine, plus I've had a couple deficiencies in the past so she put codes for those on there, too.  They can use more than one code.

My pre-op blood wasn't covered and was $2000..3 weeks post-op $1000.  Needless to say I didn't do it at my 3 month follow up. I don't understand why it's so expensive!

My insurance just won't pay for most labs.  We have a good policy here too so I don't quite get it but everyone that I work with has had to pay more for their labwork so I know it's not just me and the post-RNY labs.

I pay around $1800.  If you company offers a FSA account that helps.  Or you can see about an HSA at your bank if your company doesn't have the FSA option.  At least then the money is taken out of your check pre-tax and it's there when you need to pay. 

 It's so much cheaper to have labs drawn in Mexico!  My surgeon does it for (I think ) $250, but I've heard of people just making an appointment while they are on a cruise at a reputable facility.   I'm going to look into that when I take my next cruise (in May).  

My deductible at this point is over $2,000.  Honestly, I'd just as soon avoid medical care, and if it weren't for the fact that emergencies do happen, I'd cancel my insurance altogether.  I was shocked when I got a quote for the one night hospital stay in connection with a local RNY and it was $13,400.

Honestly?  That's INSANE!

 My surgeon has like 8 different ICD codes on the bottom of her lab sheet... Various things about malabsorption, gastric surgery, etc (even something about fatigue, LOL)... And it still costs an arm and a leg.  As someone else said (Kelly, maybe)... Sorry I just scanned the other responses on the way down the page... Insurance either covers it or they don't... It isn't a matter of paying more money for it if they think it is "more necessary" for one ICD code than for another.  Either it is medically indicated or it is not.

The last time I had mine done, I was shocked at the cost of the Vit D test!!  Overall, my full labs the last time were around $2K.  I just had them drawn on Tuesday (even though my 5-yr is not until Aug), so I will see how much he cost has gone up since last year...

Lora