Had a recent virus that attacked my liver and thyroid so I need to do a follow up blood test to manage blood markers. How do you get/order blood tests in Taipei and about how much do they cost?
Any general practitioner in your area can take a blood sample and send it in for testing. But depends if you need to test for very specific things, then you might need to go to a hospital.
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Thanks. Any estimates on cost? Here in the US, without insurance it’d cost like $500 and even with insurance I pay ~$100 for blood tests. Plus in Taiwan I’d be paying cash since no insurance
Can expect similar amounts except not in USD but NTD. Health care is not too expensive in Taiwan!
Good to know, thank you!
The cost depends totally on what you want/need to get tested - some blood tests cost next to nothing (i.e., a couple of hundred TWD), and some can run into the thousands. I’d suggest going to a major hospital and speaking to the doctor. TMUH for example, see here. I’m guessing you’d want the endocrinology department.
You can tell them you’re paying for yourself and ask the prices of each test to balance that against the medical necessity.
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Thanks, appreciate all the helpful advice from this forum!
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I quite often do self pay tests at my clinic. A general test of liver function, kidney function, blood count panel, lipid profile and a few other things around 400 NT. Thyroid maybe a few hundred… T3 T4 and TSH. I sometimes do electrolytes which are around 40NT per item.
Can’t see it costing over a thousand unless you’re having something uncommon tested.
Most clinics will draw blood and send to a lab with results in about 2 days.
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Useful info. I had a couple of relatively expensive tests, as in more than NT$1000 for a single test, before I had NHI, including at least one related to the thyroid IIRC. I think it might have been vitamin B12 or another of the B vitamins or something like that. I’d have to check the receipts though (and I’m not going to, because I’d then first need to find them in a mess of other receipts). Some of the immunology/rheumatology-related ones can be a bit pricey too (though that’s probably not relevant here).
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I have a price list from my clinic and some are expensive.
I just checked thyroid and they are about 250 per item and normally need three checked. But often the tests come in a group so maybe wouldn’t necessarily cost 3x 250.
I think the thing is to understand the way they group them…and then offer some different packages
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Here’s a recent self pay I did. Everything above the electrolytes was a standard package test and I think 380. I then added 40 per each electrolyte.
If you don’t mind answering, why do you do these as self-pay rather than using NHI? All (or most) of those for NT$380 seems pretty cheap, and cheaper actually than the registration and consultation fee at a hospital to get the tests ordered by a doctor. Is this clinic in Taipei (if so, would you mind sharing the details?)?
It’s not in Taipei but most clinics have a list from my experience…along with some packages like that one. I think labs hit up all the clinics to offer their services.
I’ve done the self pay at my neighborhood clinic sometimes because I for example have an upcoming appointment at a specialist across town with a scheduled NHI test but prefer having certain results already prepared so I don’t have to wait another month to discuss something important like new medication adjustments pending the results. Just works out more convenient sometimes in my situation, mainly because of new meds that need initial monitoring.
I once had a bad experience with a drug that caused thyroid problems as it wasn’t being monitored as it should have been.
Actually if a person meets the criteria they may have that standard test above every 3 months at a clinic and it’ll just be the usual 150 that they charge. That one above for example must be done every three months in order to continue a statin prescription. Many prescriptions require routine tests to monitor liver and kidneys.
Since the thyroid problem I can get that checked twice per year according to NHI regulations.
My child showed slightly low blood platelets at a school test and had to follow up at the clinic. Iron was a little low so get tested every six months until normal.
That standard test can also be done every year or two along with a physical for over 60 I think.
Basically if you’re on a prescription or have a condition you probably meet some criteria for regular testing. Most clinic doctors will tell you the details and remind you.
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Not the OP, but I thought I’d answer some of your questions because I get blood tests done every 6 months or so (to have my own ongoing record of my health markers). Most areas (in cities) seem to have at least one, and sometimes more local testing centres which can do blood tests and even x-rays or ultrasound. Search google for “醫事檢驗所” and that should bring up plenty of choices.
Also local doctor’s offices may offer tests. The test centres and doctor’s offices often have packages of tests such as in the attached photo.
Going to the local test centre, or doctor clinic, is much more convenient than going to the hospital and having to make appointments and deal with all the hospital admin and queuing. By self-paying you get to decide which tests you have, rather than having the doctor decide. The downside is that you won’t usually get the doctors feedback on the results from a test centre. You will normally get details of the “normal ranges” and any of your results which are out of bounds will be highlighted. So you could take this page to your doctor to discuss any concerns.
You can be in and out of these testing centres within 10-15 mins if there’s no queue. The local doctor clinic may take longer as they usually have other patients seeing the doctor. Test results are sent by Line a few days later.
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