Price Gouging on Your Lab Work - How to Prevent It From Happening to You

Why Are Lab Prices So High?

It’s no surprise that people get ripped off on their lab work. Patients and their families have no idea of the prices of the lab work that they’re having done. Doctors don’t really know either. Next time you get your blood drawn, ask your doctor what it will cost - chances are, they won’t know, or they may say “it will depend on your insurance coverage.”

That’s another issue with the high cost of labs. Hospitals can set prices at whatever level they want for their labs, and then insured patients will get a discount for having an insurance plan, but uninsured patients will be unsheltered from these high costs.

This recently happened to one of our patients - they went to a health care facility and requested labs, and they were charged about $494.72 for some basic labs.

$494.72 was charged to our patient for basic labs, consisting of a comprehensive metabolic panel, complete blood count, thyroid stimulating hormone, a lipid panel, and a hemoglobin a1c, which is a test for diabetes.

In contrast, if that patient had the labs done in our office at Plum Health DPC, their total cost would have been $27.47, a savings of about 94%.

$27.47 was charged to our patient for basic labs, consisting of a comprehensive metabolic panel, complete blood count, thyroid stimulating hormone, a lipid panel, and a hemoglobin a1c, which is a test for diabetes.

How Can You Reduce the Cost of Your Lab Work?

Imagine if you could save 50 to 90% on your primary health care costs?

Rather than spending $500 for labs, you could spend $30 for labs. What would you do with that extra $470?

Rather than spending $3,000 for a knee MRI, you could spend $300 for that same test. What would you do with that extra $2,700?

At Plum Health, our mission is to deliver affordable, accessible healthcare services in Detroit and beyond. So, we’re always looking at ways to save our patients money on health care costs - it’s just what we do.

In short, if you’re looking to save 50 to 90% on your lab workin Detroit or Metro Detroit, reach out to us at Plum Health DPC. If you’re living in another area of the country, look up a local direct primary care doctor near you!

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day,

-Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC

If you’d like to have this sort of direct primary care service and knowledge that you’re getting the best prices on your medical care, you can sign up here.

Taking Care of People with Auto-Immune Conditions in Detroit

Auto-immune conditions can be very difficult and expensive to manage. We recently had a patient present with swollen fingers and painful joints going on for 6 weeks. It was disabling for him and he was having a hard time doing the work he needed to do at home and at work. Worst of all, he was having a hard time playing/being active with his grand kids.

We were able to complete a work up of his condition for about $100 in terms of labs, and about $50 in terms of x-rays. He pays our monthly membership and is able to have as many appointments as he needs in our office without co-pays.

After collecting the labs and x-rays, and after thoughtful deliberation, we came up with a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis or RA is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system – which normally protects its health by attacking foreign substances like bacteria and viruses – mistakenly attacks the joints. This causes joint swelling and joint pain, as seen in our patient.

Once we had the right diagnosis, we were then able to start him on Methotrexate, a medication to manage his Rheumatoid Arthritis. The medication costs $4.08/week or about $16.32/month, which is affordable for our patient.

Best of all, the medication works really well for our patient and he can now do the work that he needs to do at work and at home, without the considerable joint pain that he initially experienced. Above all, he has a better quality of life, because he can now play with his grand kids and be the grandpa he wants to be.

I love taking care of people - people of all ages and stages, with diverse backgrounds and conditions. Thanks for reading and have a great day.

- Dr. Paul Thomas with Plum Health DPC in Detroit Michigan