If you have good health insurance, you probably don’t think much about it when your doctor orders tests. For the uninsured, however, it’s a frightening prospect. How much will it cost? The doctor can’t always quote it. Later, you get a whopping bill and a demand for payment. Turns out, not only did some lab you’ve never heard of perform the test, but they also performed additional tests that they assert were required because of the results of the first test. The lab has retail prices that bear no reasonable or rational relation to the price charged to insurance companies or Medicare/Medicaid. Thus does a $75 doctor visit become a $500 nightmare.

Tags: lab tests, blood work, sticking it to the uninsured