Patient Pays More Than Insurance Companies Pay for Quest Diagnostics Blood Test

If you have had a Quest Diagnostics blood test, you might have paid more than you should have for those lab results.

Some lab companies are charging patients more than 14 times the cost for a blood test that an insurance company would be charged for the same test.

Insurance companies negotiate rates with lab companies the same way they negotiate rates with hospitals and doctors.

For instance, a blood test that costs a person without insurance $220 might cost nothing for a person who has insurance because the insurance company has negotiated a lower rate of $25 for that same test and will cover the cost of that test.

Up until fairly recently, it was a little-known fact that when an insurance company denies coverage of a lab test that they determine is “unnecessary” or “experimental,” the lab company often bills the patient at the higher rate charged to those without insurance, known as the “rack rate.”

While the insurance company would have paid $25 for your blood test, the patient is stuck with the $220 rack rate bill for the cost of blood work when an insurance company denies coverage.

At least one patient accuses Quest of simply not filing the Quest Diagnostics blood test claim through the appropriate channels with his insurance company.

Charlie C. recently paid a final bill of $30 for blood work he had done at Quest in early 2016. The lab kept billing him $1,104. He argued that his insurance was supposed to cover the test.

After more than a year of arguing with Quest, Charlie convinced the company to file with his insurance company, which had negotiated the rate at a discount of $952. In the end, Charlie’s insurance company paid $122, and he paid $30.

Charlie said if he would have been less assertive and taken the invoice at face value, he would have paid Quest more than $1,000 for no reason.

Kay H. is another Quest patient who feels the company overcharged her. She received a bill for $1,400 for a genetic pre-natal test that her insurance wouldn’t cover. Kay discovered that the cost of the same test for the identical Quest Diagnostics blood test would have been $300 for her insurance company, had the test been covered.

Quest Diagnostics Blood Test Costs and Insurance Fraud Accusations

Now that consumers know that more than one price list is consulted before they are billed, they are demanding more transparency from their lab invoices. In order to determine the true cost of blood work, the insured patient needs to know the negotiated rate versus the rack rate.

Quest Diagnostics is facing medical fee class action lawsuits filed by consumers who allege they were charged a substantial amount more for the cost of blood work than their insurance companies would have been charged had the insurance companies covered the costs of the tests.

If you believe you were overcharged for a Quest Diagnostics blood test after your health insurance company denied coverage, you may qualify to participate in a lab fraud class action lawsuit.

Join a Free Medical Lab Fees Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you believe you were overcharged for medical lab fees after being denied coverage by your health insurance company, you may qualify to file a lab test fees lawsuit or laboratory fraud class action lawsuit.

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