Hacker News Reader

Not sure about other countries but this is completely free in Australia. It's a general consult and bulk-billed onto medicare.

I get an annual blood test done, even if not in the country, have paid $30 in Europe and $20 in Asia as a foreigner, isn't even worth bothering to claim on overseas health insurance.

View on HN

That seems correct to me. I tried to look up the costs in Australia and I think this is the Medicare Benefits Schedule for it (ie C-reactive protein), though I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong:

http://www9.health.gov.au/mbs/fullDisplay.cfm?type=item&q=66...

If correct, it seems the cost to the taxpayer is $9.70 AUD (about $6.67 US). So even without bulk-billing making it free here, that's still a 10x markup.

Thanks for this info, particularly as we look to expand internationally :)

Our price includes lab costs but also the cost of the packaging, shipping, ordering physician, etc. which all starts to add up!

We decided to start with at home kits for the convenience but are planning to explore other methods of measuring levels (e.g., partnering with physical labs)

Edit: I should also add that costs/prices typically start higher with startups and we fully expect them to come down as we scale.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com