The prices are *way* more reasonable than getting them from a doctor, even if you have insurance! And in my case I pay $358/month for a "high deductible + HSA" plan and nothing is covered until I hit my $1600 deductible, which I generally never come close to.

The annoying thing is that I also have the option of a "high deductible"plan that actually costs NOTHING out of pocket, same deductible, same co-pays, etc. Except the $358/month plan has no cap on what it will pay for prescription meds, and the $0 plan has a $1000 cap on prescription payment above which it pays nothing.

And so far I have never come CLOSE (by even half) of hitting that $1000 number, but at the back of my mind there is always that "but what if I get ___insert dread disease___ and need expensive meds?" feeling, so I shell out each month.

But still no reason to pay BIG BUCKS for testing. Back when I had better insurance I got sent for a comprehensive blood screening once and the cost was well over $2000 for all of that, of which insurance picked up most. But I could get the same stuff from Direct Labs for a fraction. Thank goodness I now live in a state where I can order my own tests.

I used to live in NJ where it's still illegal for people to take charge of their own health and order tests, and next to NY where it's also still illegal. I tried to use Direct Labs there once but they required a home mailing address and refused to allow me to order tests as soon as they saw my NJ address.

I went with another direct provider who was a bit more expensive, but they didn't care where you lived as long as you had the blood drawn in a legal state - so I had to drive 2 1/2 hours to Connecticut to get the blood drawn, instead of 10 minutes to my nearest LabCorp facility.