I was experiencing hair loss, so I went to the dermatologist to see if I had alopecia. She ordered blood tests do be done. I just started a new job and was in the probationary period, so I did not have health insurance. I would have waited, but she told me if it's an auto immune disease, I need to get the tests done asap to ensure my symptoms don't get worse.
Doc told me that for these blood tests, it's usually $300 total for uninsured patients. Today, I received an invoice for $3,314.55 and I'm in total panic. There's no way I can afford this, even with a payment plan, and I wouldn't have done the tests right away had I known it would be this high. The invoice has an itemized list of everything that was done with my blood sample. It especially sucks because I tested negative for everything, so the labs were basically completely unnecessary.
Can this be negotiated down? I don't know what to do. It's LabCorp and I'm in NYC if that matters. Thanks for your help.
ETA: to clarify, i did not know this was being done through LabCorp. they said they were going to send it to their lab and gave me an estimate, so i was under the belief that everything was facilitated by them since its a specialized practice (dermatology). thanks for the advice and shared experiences. i plan to call first thing tomorrow when they open.