$3,285 whoa

Received my EOB for my annual labs it's crazy what they show as billed. Insurance paid $368 or approximately 11%, the rest had to be written off.   Thankful insurance covers labs 100% when done at the same time a my company mandated annual physical. 

I know there are places now that uninsured can get labs drawn at a cheaper cost. It made me think a lot of what ifs today...if you don't have insurance what do you do?  Do you elect to run certain labs and not all?  

It all depends on income and the source of the income. If a person has absolutely no income and no insurance, most county hospitals can order labs, after going through the rigmarole of waiting all day to see a doctor. In my county there is a year wait to be assigned a doc, as there are so many non urgent cases. Sometimes people qualify for Medicaid, and depending on the county or state, they can be seen at a county clinic or low income clinic, where basic necessity labs and meds are ordered, most of the time, S.O.L.  Take vitamins and hope for the best, and hope there is a way to get insurance, pretty much.

The lab at my local clinic handed me a DIRECT LAB ACCESS price list sheet. Labs can be patient-ordered and involve no insurance filing.  Examples of self-requested, self-pay lab fees are:  A1C=$15, Lipid Profile=$25, Hemoglobin=$15, Chemistry Panel (Basic Metabolic Panel BMP)=$20, and a most-likely requested lab for a RNY patient General Wellness Screen includes CMP, CBC, Lipid, and TSH =$75.  

My insurance is changing and I most likely will have to meet deductible next time before my insurance will pay anything. Can you say 'ouch' ? Then I will have to pay at least 20% until I meet out of pocket. Yea... Not cool... I know I would need at least 1 MRI, if not 2, 3-4 lab works... One with most blood work .... So I know I need at least 3-4 k just for that. And that is with insurance. Ouch