TIBC test cost in San Francisco, CA
In San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA, 11 hospitals list a cash price for iron-binding capacity (TIBC) test: from $84.00 to $110.40, with a median of $84.00. The lowest listed price is at Kaiser Foundation Hospital - South San Francisco and 8 other hospitals. Across California, the median is $69.75 at 98 hospitals.
Cash prices at 11 facilities across 10 cities for code 83550, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Apr 1, 2026 and Jul 22, 2026.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - South San Francisco lowest South San Francisco, CA · (650) 742-3200 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Antioch lowest Antioch, CA · (925) 813-6500 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Leandro lowest San Leandro, CA · (510) 454-1000 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Francisco lowest San Francisco, CA · (415) 833-2646 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Oakland/Richmond lowest Oakland, CA · (510) 752-1000 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Walnut Creek lowest Walnut Creek, CA · (925) 295-4000 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Fremont lowest Fremont, CA · (510) 784-4000 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Redwood City lowest Redwood City, CA · (650) 299-2000 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Kaiser Foundation Hospital - San Rafael lowest San Rafael, CA · (415) 444-2000 IRON BINDING CAPACITY | $84.00 | $150.00 | $8.00–$25.00 | 44% | — source file |
| Chinese Hospital Association San Francisco, CA · (415) 677-2480 Iron binding capacity | $86.00 | $86.00 | $7.52–$260.90 | — | Jul 22, 2026 source file |
| Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley Pleasanton, CA · (925) 847-3000 Total Iron Binding Capacity | $110.40 | $276.00 | — | 60% | Apr 1, 2026 source file |
Outpatient: lowest $84.00, median $84.00, highest $110.40 — a 1.3× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 10 facilities here, median $84.00. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
Cash or insurance?
At 1 of 10 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at none is it below every plan's rate. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.
What it is
The total iron-binding capacity test measures how much iron the blood can carry. It is ordered with serum iron (83540) to check for iron deficiency or overload.
What the price covers
The price usually covers running the test. The blood draw (36415) is often billed as a separate line.
1 row held back from this comparison
It is priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 83550 ($52.03). Such a line is almost always a physician's fee billed separately, an assistant's share or a placeholder — a real charge, but not the price of the procedure itself.
| Hayward Sisters Hospital Hayward, CALC IRON BINDING TEST | $1.08 | file |