MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
How much per month are you spending on HRT
- Thread starter Rangeball
- Start date
Astro, Flexible Spending Plans are so last year... 
The best thing going now is a Health Savings Account. Depending on your deductible and age, you can put up to $5150 in it per year, get all the tax advantages of an FSP but you DON'T lose it at the end of the year, it's your money forever.
You have to have a qualified high deductible health plan in order to set up an HSA, but it may be worth looking into depending on your underlying insurance plan.
The best thing going now is a Health Savings Account. Depending on your deductible and age, you can put up to $5150 in it per year, get all the tax advantages of an FSP but you DON'T lose it at the end of the year, it's your money forever.
You have to have a qualified high deductible health plan in order to set up an HSA, but it may be worth looking into depending on your underlying insurance plan.
Even if you must pay a deductable prior to insurance covering labs, the insurance can save you a bundle because you will usually pay the insurance companies negotiated rates.
For example, I had some bloodwork done through LabCorp. My insurance does this weird thing where they won't pay labs as in-network unless they are billed by the physicians office. My first TRT physician let LabCorp do the billing. LabCorp billed my insurance company about $500. My insurance company didn't pay because I hadn't met my deductable, but they responded to LabCorp with their "negotiated rates" which I was responsible to pay. The neogotiated rates were $50....that's 90% less. I was much more happy to pay $50 than $500, although I called around and switched to a new physician the directly billed the insurance for labs (this is nothing more than a tactic the insurance company uses so that they don't have to pay for labs, since they pay the same rate regardless of whether the labs are billed through LabCorp or the physicians office).
Just goes to show how ridiculous LabCorps standard rates are. If you don't have insurance, you are screwed. IMHO, that isn't fair to the consumer, especially since the consumer isn't given the cost prior to the blood test.
For example, I had some bloodwork done through LabCorp. My insurance does this weird thing where they won't pay labs as in-network unless they are billed by the physicians office. My first TRT physician let LabCorp do the billing. LabCorp billed my insurance company about $500. My insurance company didn't pay because I hadn't met my deductable, but they responded to LabCorp with their "negotiated rates" which I was responsible to pay. The neogotiated rates were $50....that's 90% less. I was much more happy to pay $50 than $500, although I called around and switched to a new physician the directly billed the insurance for labs (this is nothing more than a tactic the insurance company uses so that they don't have to pay for labs, since they pay the same rate regardless of whether the labs are billed through LabCorp or the physicians office).
Just goes to show how ridiculous LabCorps standard rates are. If you don't have insurance, you are screwed. IMHO, that isn't fair to the consumer, especially since the consumer isn't given the cost prior to the blood test.
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gymrat1977
New Member
mranak said:
Thats a good point about the negotiated prices. Thanks for the reminder.
Astrozombie
New Member
So the insurance companies are essentially making you think you are getting more for your money?
If I could get tested for $50 then I'd get tested more often. I always felt guilty about sticking it to my insurance company for testing 4x per year.
If I could get tested for $50 then I'd get tested more often. I always felt guilty about sticking it to my insurance company for testing 4x per year.
gemini said:
I pay for all of my own testing since I am insured through Kaiser, the McDonald's of healthcare - I get them all done through LEF. Their prices for most tests are deeply discounted, especially panels. For example, they have a panel that includes electrolytes, kidney function, LFT's CBC with diff, blood lipids, blood proteins, fasting glucose, serum iron, etc. (I think forty-five separate tests) for $32.00.
You can get total T, free T and E2 done for about $100.00. Obviously, testing can get expensive, even with discounted prices. But it's an option worth thinking about for people who have to pay out of pocket
Astrozombie
New Member
Link? Is this an in person test, or are you mailing a sample in?
www.lef.org
You call LEF and order your tests and pay by credit card. They send you the signed request via UPS, which usu. takes 3-4 days. You take the request to any Labcorp location to get the blood drawn. They mail you the test results, usually in a week or less, but it can take up to two weeks.
One thing that I forgot to mention is that the prices I quoted are for LEF members. Non-member prices are maybe 20-30% higher - still discounted but not as much of a deal. A membership is $75.00/yr.
You call LEF and order your tests and pay by credit card. They send you the signed request via UPS, which usu. takes 3-4 days. You take the request to any Labcorp location to get the blood drawn. They mail you the test results, usually in a week or less, but it can take up to two weeks.
One thing that I forgot to mention is that the prices I quoted are for LEF members. Non-member prices are maybe 20-30% higher - still discounted but not as much of a deal. A membership is $75.00/yr.
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Still Looking
Thought you all might find this funny though. Still looking for a good Dr. but ran into this, read below:
Thought you all might find this funny though. Still looking for a good Dr. but ran into this, read below:
SPE said:Oh yeah, her initial visit alone was $1900! I was like, shouldn't it be like $300? Wow.
SWALE said:Usually you can still charge your labs to insurance, though, and that would just leave her own services to pay cash for--no way owul dthat ampount to 6-9000 per patient. Or maybe she only sees 50 patients per year. LOL. Are you sure you understood them? No one could charge that much and stay in biz.
SPE said:Talked with her office today. Looks like she doesn't accept insurance, and the coordinator told me to expect to spend $6000-$9000 within the first six monthsBack to the drawing board I guess. How much should I expect them to charge?
SWALE said:
