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| ▲ | andy99 3 days ago | parent [-] | | I live in Canada, despite being free this would be way more complicated to get. I don't want to be political, but just paying for this would be very appealing. | | |
| ▲ | stavros 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | I live in Greece, I can go to a lab, order this, and pay for it. I actually did, the other day, though it was free because the government happens to be running a Lp(a) testing program right now. Can you not get private labs in Canada? | | |
| ▲ | andy99 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | I've always thought you need a requisition from a doctor, you can't just go pay for something, that's the only way I've seen it done. At least I've never seen services like the OP advertised, that's why I was stricken by it. (Happy to be corrected) | | |
| ▲ | stavros 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | Hm, over here you need a prescription for medication, but you can do whatever test you want to pay for. I don't know about Canada, though. | |
| ▲ | 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | [deleted] | |
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| ▲ | brandonb 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Interesting that you can do this in Greece. In the US, a doctor has the order the labs. (Direct-to-consumer lab testing technically exists, but is always ordered by a doctor.) | | |
| ▲ | nerdsniper 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | https://www.privatemdlabs.com/ https://www.discountedlabs.com/ I’ve used both of these in USA with no physician or insurance involved at all. Zero red tape. I believe Canada has some additional rules/barriers against private testing without a physician. The CEO of PrivateMD labs is on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=JeanPierreK | | |
| ▲ | lazyasciiart 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Those places are very clear that they have a doctor on board who will order the actual test in your name. That’s why e.g privateMdlabs is promising that you “can avoid the doctors office”, not “no doctor involved”. | | |
| ▲ | nerdsniper 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | Ah - good info! It's very transparent to the customer, I never noticed that there was any doctor involved. |
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| ▲ | stavros 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | To be fair, I don't think anyone actually does it, because who will do their own bloods, but you definitely can. Labs expect to see an order from the doctor, because that's what 99.9% of people have, but they're happy if you just pay out of pocket too. | | |
| ▲ | froglets 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | In the US you can buy 100+ tests from Quest Labs directly, the price even includes a discussion with MD about the results. | |
| ▲ | andy99 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The reason I would do it, or do it when in the US is just the convenience. Seeing a doctor is complicated and obviously involves at least one extra step. If you just go and get the tests and have the info, it simplifies things, which is presumably the reason why these direct to consumer options exist in the US. It's interesting to hear that notionally they have the same model as us of a doctor needing to prescribe the test. The difference in Canada is that private healthcare is not available so you are forced to deal with the public system and the pace and inconvenience that entails. | | |
| ▲ | stavros 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | No, the doctor doesn't need to prescribe the test, you can test whatever you want. It's just that the vast majority of people don't test anything unless a doctor tells them to. | |
| ▲ | pixl97 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | There are places like 'Any Lab Test Now' in the US that are cash/card and do a large number of tests like this without a prescription. |
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| ▲ | jjmarr 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | In Ontario the doctor gives me a requisition form with the blood tests they want to do. I take that to whatever bloodwork chain is closest to me, they do the test, and get reimbursed by the government. I don't think any of those chains have the credit card readers or cash registers to take payment from me even if they wanted to. |
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| ▲ | dboreham 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I'm in the US and our local hospital lab has "test fair" week every year when anyone can roll up and get any test for a nominal payment (basic common tests). No doctor involved. | |
| ▲ | cj 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Anyone can order labs via websites like https://directlabs.com/ If there is a doctor involved, it’s invisible to the consumer. I believe there are 2-3 states where the rules are different (one being New York) where you can’t self-order tests, but every other state is unrestricted. Even in New York where you can’t order via the typical websites, you can still go directly to Quest or Labcorp and buy your labs directly from them (without talking to a doctor). Source: I regularly get blood panels without seeing doctors. I highly recommend direct labs, or Quest Direct if you live in NY. Fun fact… my primary care provider ordered a Vitamin D and lipid panel for me last year. The cost of the labs after insurance was 3x more expensive than buying the labs myself without insurance. Insanity. Edit: states with self-testing restrictions: AZ, NJ, NY, RI | | |
| ▲ | brandonb 3 days ago | parent [-] | | If you check the lab report, did you see a doctor listed somewhere near the top? (Even if you didn't explicitly talk to that doctor, I think it's legally necessary in all US states). (Agree that ordering and paying the cash price is often cheaper than insurance.) | | |
| ▲ | nradov 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | Every reference lab in the US is required to have a medical director who is legally accountable for quality. That doctor's name will often appear somewhere on the report but that doesn't mean they ordered it. The ordering provider (if any) will be listed on a separate field. | |
| ▲ | cj 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yes, there is an ordering physician. The parent commenter we're both responding to said "I can go to a lab, order this, and pay for it." -- the point I'm trying to make is that the system in the US is basically the same, since the ordering physician is employed by the lab testing company and you never interact with them, so it's as if they don't exist for the purposes of comparing to Greece. Edit: I see you own a blood testing startup! Now I understand why you were surprised about the ordering physician detail. I thought you were implying that the process is difficult in some way because a doctor is involved. |
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| ▲ | Aurornis 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > Direct-to-consumer lab testing technically exists, but is always ordered by a doctor.) More like rubber-stamped by a doctor. There are numerous websites where you can buy the labs you want and the requisition will appear in your inbox shortly afterward after being “reviewed” by a doctor. It’s really not an impediment at all. | |
| ▲ | burntsushi 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | This is very much not true. I just paid $12 to have a lipid test done. No doctor order or involvement at all. | | |
| ▲ | brandonb 3 days ago | parent [-] | | At least for the tests I've gotten in the past, there's always a doctor's name on the lab order. They might not do an appointment with you, but it's still a legal requirement to get the test done. | | |
| ▲ | burntsushi a day ago | parent [-] | | Yes, what you said was incredibly misleading given the context of the discussion. > They might not do an appointment with you That's the crucial detail missing from your comment. Without, it suggested that you had to go and actually talk to a doctor. But you don't. You can order labs as if there were no doctor involvement at all. |
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| ▲ | hed 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I believe it depends on the state. | |
| ▲ | JumpCrisscross 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | > In the US, a doctor has the order the labs Concierge doctors will do this with a text. It’s dumb. So dumb. But doable. |
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| ▲ | okr 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | What is the purpose of running lp(a) testing, if i may ask? Just for knowing the risk factor and dealing with it? As far as i know there is no easy way for dealing with it once and for all times (gene editing...) |
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| ▲ | zukzuk 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | There are easily accessible direct-to-consumer startups in Canada that do this sort of testing. I did mine a while back with Nia Health. Every marker on the OP’s list was included. You will have to pay out of pocket, but the cost was not unreasonable when i did it. | | |
| ▲ | andy99 3 days ago | parent [-] | | Thank this looks interesting though I do see it's a very early stage startup (and inexplicably subscription based which appears to just be a naked cash grab). | | |
| ▲ | zukzuk 2 days ago | parent [-] | | It was not a subscription when I did it a year or two ago, but I guess the one-off model may not have worked out. I work in this field and the economics of doing something like this with a D2C model in Canada are not great. People are just not used to exchanging money for healthcare. | | |
| ▲ | karlgkk a day ago | parent [-] | | subscription model makes sense, unfortunately if you're doing a one-off, it's almost certainly part of a checkup or otherwise ordered by a doctor. any followups will be under their care too if you're like me, with a longer term health condition that requires periodic measurement, then this actually makes a ton of sense |
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| ▲ | petesergeant 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I’ve used getmaple.ca for this kinda thing. You end up using web chat to ask a NP for what you want and it gets done. All said, lack of private medical care in general has played a big part in stopping me moving to Canada. | |
| ▲ | vixen99 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I live in Romania. You can have whatever test you want if they can do it. Mostly they can at least in our central area. No doctor's note needed. | |
| ▲ | nradov 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Lots of Canadians come to the USA as medical tourists and pay out of pocket for treatments they can't get (or have to wait for) at home. | |
| ▲ | amatecha 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Seriously. It's infuriating how hard it is to get "non-essential" diagnostics. |
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