Warning – Medicare will pay for just 1 vitamin D test PER LIFETIME (if not related to a few diseases)

Diagnosis	Diagnosis Code
Hyperparathyroidism	252.0
Unspecified vitamin D deficiency (only allowed once per lifetime for Medicare patients)	268.9
Pure Hypercholesterolemia	272.0
Other and Unspecified Hyperlipidemia	272.4
Benign Essential Hypertension	401.1
Unspecified Essential Hypertension	401.9
Chronic kidney disease, stage III (moderate)	585.3
Chronic kidney disease, stage IV (severe)	585.4
Chronic kidney disease, stage V	585.5
End stage renal disease	585.6
Osteoporosis	733.00
Disorder of bone and cartilage, unspecified	733.90

Table is from the PDF attached at the bottom of this page

Health Problems which have been proven to be prevented or treated by vitamin D supplementation, but which are not covered by Medicare include

Cardiovascular, Back Pain, Diabetes, Influenza, Falls, Hip Fractures, Breast Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Raynaud's pain, Menstrual Pain, C-section and pregnancy risks, Low Birth Weight, Chronic Kidney Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, TB, Rickets, Respiratory Tract Infection, Lupus, Sickle Cell pain, leg ulcers, traumatic brain injury. Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Congestive Heart Failure (Infants), Middle Ear Infection (Infants), Gingivitis, muscles in seniors, antibiotic use in seniors, Infants taller, Gestational Diabetes, heart pump better after attack, Prostate Cancer, Asthma, Depression, Vitamin D in Breastmilk, Fibromyalgia, Hives (as of Feb 2014)

There are > 1,000 clinical trials using vitamin D intervention - we anticipate the proof for vitamin D for such Health Problems as

Alzheimer's, Infection, other Pregnancy Problems, Allergies, Asthma, Autism, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Pain, COPD, Dental, Headache, Psoriasis, Sepsis . . .

Low vitamin D tied to premature death NYT June 2014 - in the comments

• "Medicare paid for the first Vitamin D test , , "
• 'But when we had a second Vitamin D test some months later . . , Medicare would not pay for them and we were charged $ 240 each."

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Comment by VitaminDWiki

US is foolishly joining countries such as Canada and Australia in limiting short-term health costs by restricting vitamin D tests
Vitamin D tests have been proven to lower, not raise health care costs (Lancet 2012)
A person will typically just need a single vitamin D test 4 months after having a loading dose followed by a maintenance dose
The vitamin D test is to confirm that the maintenance dose chosen is large enough
If your vitamin D level is not high enough and the govt does not pay for additional testing
    we recommend that you get tested commercially, at far lower cost than at most hospitals.

Update March 2021 - finally realized why vitamin D tests are no longer paid for

1. Doctor orders for a vitamin D test (often $200 in US hospitals)
2. Doctor gets the results and prescribes 2,000 IU of vitamin D
   • Which is rarely enough, but that is what they were taught was a safe level decades ago
   • Sometimes they prescribe vitamin D2 - h has been documented to sometimes LOWER levels of Vitamin D3
3. Patient gets little or no benefit from such a small amount that they stop taking it after a month or so
4. Medicare sees no benefit in the test - so has decided to no pay for testing in the future.

See also VitaminDWiki

• Virtually all vitamin D testing not associated with a symptom, but 10 percent had osteoporosis – April 2014
• Australia is considering cutting vitamin D testing – March 2011 100X increase in a decade
• No longer debating vitamin D supplementation, now debating need for testing first – April 2013
• Vitamin D testing using smartphone camera: Prototype – Dec 2013 very low cost vitamin D tests are in the pipline
• Low cost vitamin D Blood Tests
• Quick, FREE, self-test for Vitamin D deficiency FREE
• Vitamin D test: 20 dollars via some Walgreens Drug Stores – Oct 2013 very low cost vitamin D tests are in the pipline
• 80 X increase in Vitamin D testing in Australia in a decade - June 2013
  They may have stopped the increase direct costs by greatly restricting testing
  Chart of actual increase and the left     Chart of extrapolation if quota had not been imposed.is on the right

• Hypothesis of cause and effect of vitamin D deficiency which has the following chart

See also web

• Medicare Australia overhaul restricts vitamin D and B12 tests Nov 2014
  66833 item covers 25-hydroxyvitamin D testing for high-risk groups, such as people who have
    "deeply pigmented skin, or chronic and severe lack of sun exposure for cultural, medical, occupational or residential reasons".
  The item covers testing in 10 other high-risk categories, including patients with osteoporosis and those with malabsorption.
• Same day: Medicare US proposed that they should pay for annual chest Xrays of people who have smoked a lot during thier lives
  Claims that this proposed policy will save money
  - but not nearly as much money as could be saved by screening for low vitamin D levels