I think the casm separates testers from non-testers.

I've noticed that there are either doctors who will order ALL of the blood tests (all at once, and a few times to track trends), or doctors who will not order any, even if it's clear that tests are absolutely necessary.

A LOT of stories I've read on HN, or heard from others I've spoken with about this subject mention that somewhere along their journey to recovery, they (the patient):

- Did some research,

- Requested their doctor order a few labs,

- Were denied by their doctor (not for insurance reasons),

- Ordered the tests on their own from jasonhealth / ultalabtests etc.,

- Received high/low results as predicted.

...and only then did their doctors respond appropriately.

The fact that we can order our own tests is the difference -- I think -- because it's very similar to the difference between GenZ and Boomers with respect to being tech-native.

From my own experience, younger doctors, generally, order as many tests as possible and want as much data as possible (since data and testing are now cheaper, faster, and more available -- and this is native to their experience, now), whereas older doctors are less likely to behave that way (since tests used to be more expensive, slower, and generally not covered by insurance).

-HOWEVER-

Looking from the other side of the table, sometimes it might not be best to order lots of tests all the time for certain patients, since some (possibly acute or false-positive) results might just stress them out...

Especially when most patients are happy with the current standard. Patient has a rash. Doctor prescribes steroid. Rash goes away, and the patient is happy. No need to dig into the root cause of the rash, and if that cause might lead to cancer 10 years down the line, if ...for 99% of people... it won't.

That said... for the patients who do show an interest in debugging, I think some accommodations should be made that don't involve the frustrating "self-ordered tests process" listed above.