$17,850 for a urine test? Why a Texas college student's lab bill was so high

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Fred Schulte, Kaiser Health News


"I just could not live with the pain," she said. "I couldn't get dressed by myself, I couldn't walk across my house, let alone to class, and nothing, no drug that had been prescribed to me, even dulled the pain."

Moreno says she also tried chiropractic medicine and acupuncture, but they didn't make the pain go away. Finally, a doctor at the student health center referred her to an orthopedic specialist who performed tests and concluded a disc was blocking nerves down her legs and needed to be removed. 


Moreno, then 28, a student at Texas State University in San Marcos, had a disc removed from her back in December 2015, which she described as "a complete success." Her surgeon prescribed an opioid painkiller, hydrocodone.


But in March 2017, over a year later, Sunset Labs LLC of Houston sent her the bill for $17,850 for testing her urine for a slew of drugs, including cocaine, methadone, anti-anxiety drugs and several other drugs she had never heard of. (See the bill here)

What gives?







Moreno's insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, refused to pay any of the bill, arguing that the lab was out-of-network and thus not covered. Had it chipped in, it would have covered the service at $100.92, according to an explanation of benefits the insurance company sent to Moreno.


Unsatisfying resolution

Fearing damage to his daughter's credit rating, Moreno's father, Dr. Paul Davis, paid the lab $5,000 in April 2017 to settle the bill. He also has filed a formal complaint about the bill with the Texas attorney general's office, accusing the lab of "price gouging of staggering proportions." 

The lab's attorney said he was not aware of the complaint. A Texas attorney general's spokesperson confirmed to KHN that the office had received complaints about the lab, but declined further comment.

