Scan Medical Insurance

How much does a full body scan cost and is it covered by insurance if taken electively for prevention?

Let's say I want to find any problems in my body and want to take a scan of my entire body - would insurance cover it and if not how much would it cost and would I ask my primary physician to take it?

Public Comments

1. You would ask your primary MD. However, I read that Oprah took one & they said that insurance wouldn't over it. You can always try calling your insurance co. to ask.
2. First, to get this done... whoever does it will tell you they want a Doctor's order before they do this. Ok, so let's say your primary care doc says OK. Here's the issue: Insurance will ONLY cover it if it was done based on an ICD code. The cost? Not sure what you mean by "body scan"? MRI, CT scan? Need a little more info to give you a good answer. Also, these ICD procedure costs vary a LOT from where in the country they are done: from several hundred dollars to over a Thousand dollars.
3. Unfortunately, insurance probably won't cover this. It generally does not cover preventive procedures. Once you know of a problem, then insurance may cover the fix. The cost depends on what type of scan you get. I had 2 CT scans of my abdomen last summer and the bill was about $10,000. MRI scans give good views of the internal organs too, but they are even more expensive. A full body scan will not show problems in your blood. Simple blood tests can usually spot those. This is the first thing to try when looking for something being wrong. If something is not right, it will indicate what organ(s) could have a problem and then the doctor would do other, more specific, tests on those organs. Your primary doctor would not be the one to do the tests, but they will need to give you a referral to see a doctor that does do the tests. People can't just walk in off the street to have tests done.