Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Lyme Labs That Accept INSURANCE!

All I have ever heard about in regards to getting accurate Lyme Disease testing is IGENEX.  I paid $450 for my Lyme Disease test through them cash.  Boy did that hurt.  I tested negative through the standard labs & also negative through Igenex in regards to having built up antibodies for the Bd.  But my PCR was positive for Lyme Disease through Igenex & the health department was alerted.

I have been talking about how I cannot afford the co-infection panel through Igenex.  It runs about $650-$850.  So therefore I have never treated co-infections & here I am, still house bound & sick nearly 2 years later.  I was given info on a program called
LymeTap (Lyme Test Access Program) by a volunteer at CALDA.If you qualify (financially), you can get assistance to have your testing done at several different labs.  They will reimburse you for 75% of the cost of the lab test.  I wouldn't be able to come up with the money up front I was put into email contact with someone & was supposed to receive a call but never did.  I really should have pursued it because maybe my email got lost in the shuffle.  However......  I think I missed that boat for a reason.....

Enter INSURANCE COVERED LYME DISEASE TESTING!!!!  Why NO ONE on any board, forum, Facebook group or page as ever mentioned this to me in my search, I will never know.  A chance phone conversation with someone that I chatted with via email last year gave me a wealth of info!  Thanks Hootan!  So after checking with the companies (all on the East Coast), I give you:

Medical Diagnostic Labs
1-877-269-0090
Ask for a Vector Borne Diseases Patient Kit, they will ship it to you & you will take it to your doctor to have the blood drawn.  It tests for Bartonella, Babesia, Erlichia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever & several strains of Lyme Disease.  It utilizes ELISA's & PCR's.  They also do the C6 Peptide.  So it doesn't just rely on antibodies.
Ask to talk to billing to see if they accept your insurance.  They took mine (Anthem Blue Cross).
They also have Candida testing.  Check their online test menu.  I should have ordered that kit as well.

Stonybrook
631-444-3824
When I called, they said that they only test for Lyme Disease, not co-infections.  They do an ELISA, Western  Blot, & C6 Peptide testing
Contact the billing department to see if they accept your insurance:  631-444-4151
Call & request a test kit.

Imugen 
(website is not working but lists phone numbers)
781-255-0770
They test for both Lyme Disease & Co-infections
Call to see if they take your insurance.  I have a call in to the sales rep to see exactly what tests are run.

I don't really know about this website PrePaidLab however, maybe it could help someone out with other types of testing.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

GREAT INFO SONYA, THANK YOU!