Also, these elective screenings are not covered by insurance. A full-body MRI with Prenuvo runs $2,499, while Ezra’s Blueprint package, which includes two MRI scans and one CT, will set you back $5,695.
The actual cost can be much higher than advertised
While the brands offering full-body screenings will have you believe the cost of the scan and the time commitment to get it done are all it takes to achieve the ultimate peace of mind, the truth is you should be prepared to spend a lot more time and money, not to mention the emotional cost.
“The problem with doing an MRI and finding something is it doesn’t mean you caught a cancer—it just means you saw something,” says Ashish Rana, MD, internal medicine program director and associate chair of academic medicine at Crozer Health. “That can then lead to further unnecessary diagnostic testing, which can be emotionally and mentally disturbing to the patient, and it can lead to unnecessary procedures.”
“And, of course, it’s a huge financial burden,” he says. “What was initially sold as a $1,000 MRI could now have you out of pocket for tens of thousands of dollars and lead to nothing except physical, mental, and financial pain.”
This isn’t some secret that these companies don’t want you to know. “This is mostly for the early adopters, and the reason I say that is you [have to be] willing to undergo some risk of getting information that might send you down the wrong rabbit hole,” says Darshan Shah, MD, founder and chief medical officer at Next Health, which offers an Executive Physical, including MRI and CT scan, for $14,500.
“You’re going to get a result, and we’re going to see something, potentially. About 15–20 percent of the time we see something. But almost 100 percent of the time we need to do more tests to figure out exactly what that is,” says Dr. Shah. “If you’re the kind of person that is not willing to undergo more testing afterwards, or you think that’s going to send you into a psychological spiral, you should not get these tests.”
A good result doesn’t mean you’re in the clear
The other thing to bear in mind is that, in the same way that something picked up in a screening could be nothing, a test that picks up nothing could be missing something. “There’s a potential for false reassurance,” says Dr. Shields.
