Cervical cancer screenings save women's lives: Cervical cancer is an insane beast that often has no symptoms when it is the most treatable. Many, many women get abnormal or inconclusive results once or twice during their lives. It can be a variety of causes, even! This doesn't change the fact that they save lives or seriously increase some people's quality of life.

The sleep studies are similar. Someone getting an inconclusive result doesn't negate all the folks that have been helped by it - and honestly, doesn't rule it out. The money bit is just a shameful side effect of the health care system where you live and I'm guessing it is part of the sting of an inconclusive result.

Why did you even comment this? He's saying the upside is worth it.

I also got an inconclusive, but my dad has apnea and a sleep study basically changed his life. The possibility of that is clearly worth 500$

Because to some people $500 is a lot and doctor visits are often useless. "See a doctor" is default advice, but it can be very expensive advice.

This a USA healthcare problem, and you should flag it as such.

I am in the USA, and my cheap ass insurance covered the sleep study in full.

CPAP machine, however, is upon deductible, so I have postponed it upon I'll have spent the deductible on something like CT.

Why? If going to a doctor is free for you, you know that.

Doctor are not free to me, I pay taxes. What I was trying to say, your example is an USA problem, most people do not have to decide if seeing a doctor is a financial decision. So your case is not universal, and should be mentioned.

They're slowly moving to "at home" sleep studies, so hopefully the cost will come down. Essentially they just loan you a bunch of monitors on a chest belt, teach you how to put it on, and you return it the next day for your consultation.

Here's a video showing how to install the monitor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHvydhYu85o

It is still a "developing area" but I think it will be the norm eventually. It *should reduce the cost (but YMMV, as US healthcare costs don't conform to normal logic).

Yeah, a couple of years ago, I had an at-home sleep study. It was free for me with Kaiser insurance, so I guess the cost was neglectable.

That really sucks. When did you do the test - and was it in a clinic or at home?

I do encourage you to keep trying if you have reason to think you have sleep apnea. Maybe get a home O2 monitor to help you decide if it's worth spending the money on another sleep study.

Mine was a hell of a lot more expensive than that. $3,000. The doctor refused to treat me until I had one, even though my fatigue was the same as it was 10 years ago when I had another sleep study with no issues.

So damned frustrating.

Thanks. I didn't know that it could be inconclusive, or how much it costs.