Comment by andy99
2 days ago
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.
2 days ago
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.
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?
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)
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.
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.)
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
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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.
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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
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> 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.
This is very much not true. I just paid $12 to have a lipid test done. No doctor order or involvement at all.
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I believe it depends on the state.
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.
> 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.
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...)
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.
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).
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.
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.
Seriously. It's infuriating how hard it is to get "non-essential" diagnostics.
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.
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.