A standard blood panel costs between $29 and $99 without insurance, depending on the type of test. The most common panels, like a complete blood count or metabolic panel, fall at the lower end of that range, while specialty tests for hormones or vitamins can run well over $100. With insurance, many routine panels are covered at no cost if they’re classified as preventive care.
Common Panel Prices Without Insurance
If you’re paying out of pocket, here’s what the most frequently ordered blood panels typically cost through a national lab:
- Complete blood count (CBC): $29
- Comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP): $49
- Cholesterol and lipid panel: $31 to $59, depending on location
- Hemoglobin A1C (diabetes screening): $35 to $39
- Thyroid function (TSH): $49
- Iron, TIBC, and ferritin panel: $59
- Vitamin D: $72 to $99
- Cortisol (stress hormone): $79
Specialty panels cost more. An expanded women’s hormone panel that includes testosterone runs around $289 through Quest Health. A celiac disease panel can cost $105 to $120 or more. Initial thyroid disorder monitoring, which tests multiple thyroid markers rather than just TSH, is about $115.
What You Pay With Insurance
Most health plans are required to cover a set of preventive screening tests at no cost to you, with no copay or coinsurance, even if you haven’t met your deductible. This applies when the test is ordered as preventive care and performed by an in-network provider. Blood glucose screening, cholesterol panels, and other routine wellness labs often fall into this category.
The catch is that “preventive” has a specific meaning. If your doctor orders the same cholesterol panel because you have symptoms or a known condition, it may be billed as diagnostic rather than preventive, and your deductible and copay kick in. The test itself is identical. The billing code is what determines your cost. If you’re unsure, ask your provider’s office whether the lab order will be coded as preventive before your blood is drawn.
Where You Get Tested Changes the Price Dramatically
The single biggest factor in what you’ll pay isn’t the test itself. It’s where the test is performed. A study comparing lab pricing in Florida found a 12-fold difference between the average cost of a CBC ordered through a hospital outpatient setting for an uninsured patient ($401) and the same test ordered directly by the patient through a consumer lab ($32). That’s the same blood draw, the same analysis, with a $369 gap driven entirely by the facility.
Hospital-based labs consistently charge the most. Even with insurance, the negotiated hospital price tends to be higher than what you’d pay ordering directly through a consumer testing service from Quest Diagnostics or Labcorp. Independent labs and direct-to-consumer options are almost always cheaper for uninsured or self-pay patients.
Geography matters too, though less dramatically. A lipid panel ranges from about $31 in Iowa to $44 in Alaska. A study of Tennessee hospitals found that prices for the same test could vary by a factor of 60 to 240 between the cheapest and most expensive facility in the state, depending on whether you looked at cash prices or insurance-negotiated rates. Middle Tennessee hospitals charged more than those in the eastern and western parts of the state, and prices correlated with hospital county income and for-profit status.
Fees That Get Added to the Panel Price
The price of the panel itself isn’t always the full bill. Labs and clinics can charge a separate specimen collection fee (sometimes called a phlebotomy or blood draw fee) on top of the test cost. Medicare’s 2024 rate for this fee is $8.83, but private labs and clinics set their own prices, and the charge can be higher. Some direct-to-consumer lab services include the draw fee in their listed price, while others don’t. Ask before you sit down.
If a mobile phlebotomist travels to your home, expect a travel charge on top of the collection fee. Doctor’s office visits also add a layer of cost. When a physician orders lab work during an appointment, you may be paying for the office visit, the lab’s facility fee, and the test itself as three separate charges.
How to Pay Less
Direct-to-consumer lab services let you order your own blood work online, visit a local draw site, and get results without a doctor’s visit. These services, offered by companies like Quest Health and others, use the same certified labs that process physician-ordered tests. For uninsured patients, this route is often the cheapest option available.
You also have a legal right to cost information before you commit. Under the No Surprises Act, labs and providers must give uninsured or self-pay patients a good faith estimate of expected charges for scheduled services. If the final bill exceeds the estimate, you may be eligible for a dispute resolution process. Ask for this estimate in writing before any blood is drawn.
Bundled wellness panels can save money compared to ordering tests individually. Many consumer labs sell packages that combine a CBC, metabolic panel, lipid panel, and thyroid test for less than the sum of each test purchased separately. If your doctor wants several tests, compare the bundled price to the individual costs.
Tests That Require Fasting
Some blood panels require you to fast for 8 to 12 hours beforehand, drinking only plain water. The most common fasting tests are blood glucose, cholesterol panels, and the basic metabolic panel. Liver and kidney function tests sometimes require fasting as well.
Fasting matters because food and drinks temporarily change your blood sugar, fat, and protein levels. If those levels are artificially elevated, your results may be inaccurate, potentially leading to a wrong diagnosis or an unnecessary follow-up test you’d have to pay for again. Scheduling a fasting test first thing in the morning means most of your fasting hours happen while you sleep. If you accidentally eat or drink before the test, tell the lab. It’s better to reschedule than to pay for results that don’t reflect your actual health.