Before STD testing became available online, the price tags delivered a considerable blow to the patient’s budget, so naturally, insurance plans were of great help. Nowadays, some providers of online and at-home STD tests will also accept insurance as a valid payment method, so it’s definitely something worth investigating.
Modern direct-to-customer tests are considerably cheaper than those performed in your physician’s office or clinic. Insurance is definitely not an essential part of the process anymore, but if your provider covers STD testing, there’s no reason not to use the opportunity.
Insurance Coverage
As we already said, some companies accept insurance as a payment method, others don’t. Therefore, you should gather all the relevant information before placing your order. Note that many of the companies will still charge you additional fees your insurance plan is not likely to cover.
Having said that, you should also check with your insurance company if it covers STD testing since many of them don’t. Furthermore, you’ll want to know whether your particular insurance plan is supported by your chosen STD testing provider. For example, many companies don’t accept HMO and TriCare plan types and almost none of them support Medicare and Medicaid.
Billing Outline
Here’s a pretty good picture of the overall billing procedure once you’ve placed your order with a certain company. We’ve already mentioned the portions of your order not covered by insurance. These include the company’s administrative costs and doctor’s fees. Those will be due immediately.
Lab testing fees should be covered by your insurance at a later date. Depending on your insurance provider and particular service plan, testing will be covered partially or in full. Any remaining balance will then be automatically charged to your credit card or you’ll receive a bill in the mail.
Before you actually place an order, we recommend scheduling a consultation with you chosen STD testing provider and checking what parts of the testing your insurance will cover.