SaveOnLabs. com Brings Down the Cost of Health Care One Lab Test at a Time
Affordable, online access to lab testing enables consumers to take charge of their health and health care expenses.
Seattle, WA (PRWEB) August 26, 2010
$345 for a Thyroid Panel? $400 for a General Health Screen? Shocked health care consumers, who are either uninsured or adjusting to a new world of high deductible health plans, are confronted with invoices like this every day. While Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other high deductible plans are making health insurance affordable for a growing number of consumers, the out of pocket expenses can come as a surprise for consumers who aren’t used to shopping around for the best price on their health care needs.
Fortunately, a growing number of consumers are discovering a new way to take charge of their health and health care expenses—direct-access-testing (DAT). While direct-access-testing has been around in the form of at-home test kits, i. e. the ubiquitous home pregnancy test, for years, consumers now have access to blood and urine lab testing such as thyroid hormone levels, blood glucose, even testing for sexually transmitted diseases through companies such as SaveOnLabs. com (http://www. SaveOnLabs. com). These companies enable consumers to order the tests they need online or by phone and then go directly to a reference lab such as LabCorp for their lab work. Lab results are sent directly to the consumer, usually within 24 – 48 hours.
Consumers can realize significant savings—often 40% to 80% off of standard published walk-in rates—by ordering their lab tests online. In fact, if the aforementioned Thyroid Panel (http://www. saveonlabs. com/products/Thyroid-Profile. html) and General Health Screen (http://www. saveonlabs. com/products/General-Health-Screen-%2812-hour-fast-required%29.html) had been procured through SaveOnLabs. com, the total costs for the tests would have been $34.75 and $50.00, respectively. Two factors enable SaveOnLabs. com to offer the same tests ordered by physicians at a fraction of the cost. First, because they specialize in lab testing, they are able to negotiate high volume discounts with their nationwide testing partner. Second, when consumers prepay for tests they need, they eliminate the costs associated with invoicing and collecting fees from insurance companies, further bringing down the price.
Direct access testing is available in all but New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island and serves the needs of a wide range of health care consumers including: families with no insurance, Health Savings Account (HSA) or other High Deductible Health Plan participants, temporary Major Medical Plan participants, people with ongoing testing needs, people with testing needs not covered or partially covered by insurance, part-time employees, contractors and people desiring confidential testing for whatever reasons.
One of the primary criticisms of direct access testing is that it erodes the doctor patient relationship. However, Andrew Lange, Founder and President of SaveOnLabs. com (http://www. SaveOnLabs. com), emphasizes that is not the case at all. In fact, the majority of SaveOnLabs. com clients are self-pay patients ordering tests on the recommendation of their health practitioner. SaveOnLabs. com provides them with a cost-effective method of obtaining those tests. SaveOnLabs. com also screens lab results and alerts clients when their values fall outside of the normal range, encouraging them to seek the counsel of their health care provider in order to receive optimum care.
SaveOnLabs. com is dedicated to bringing innovative and affordable health services to the public. We provide affordable direct service health tests and health educational services. We are passionate about our mission, driven to enact positive change, and caring about our customers. For more information, please see www. SaveOnLabs. com (http://www. SaveOnLabs. com).
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