
One of the first questions many green card applicants ask is simple: “Will my health insurance pay for the immigration medical exam?” If you live in Los Angeles and are booking a USCIS I-693 exam with a civil surgeon, the honest answer is usually no for the exam itself and maybe for some parts of it.
Most health plans treat the immigration medical exam as an administrative requirement for USCIS, not a medical service. That means you should plan to pay the civil surgeon exam fee out of pocket. The good news is that you can often use insurance to cover vaccines and sometimes lab tests, which can significantly cut your total cost if you plan ahead.
This guide explains how health insurance interacts with the immigration medical exam in Los Angeles, how Baron Medical Group handles billing, and what you can do to reduce what you pay.
Immigration medical exam pricing in Los Angeles depends on the clinic and what is included. Across the city, most civil surgeons fall into three bands:
At Baron Medical Group in Los Angeles, current I-693 pricing is:
Vaccines are billed separately, either at our office or at an outside pharmacy, depending on what works best for your insurance and schedule.
Even when a clinic lists a single exam price, the actual cost structure has several parts:
For insurance, that breakdown matters: the exam and form work are almost never covered, while vaccines and some lab tests can be, if handled correctly.
Health insurance is designed to pay for diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions or preventive care that is medically recommended. The I-693 exam is different. It exists to satisfy an immigration requirement, not to treat an illness. Insurers classify it as an administrative or legal exam, similar to exams required for jobs, schools, or life insurance.
As a result, most plans contain policy language that excludes:
In practice, that means you should not expect your PPO, HMO, Medi-Cal, or Medicare plan to pay the civil surgeon fee at Baron Medical Group or any other USCIS civil surgeon in Los Angeles.
While the exam fee itself is almost always out of pocket, your plan may still help in three areas:
There are two catches: the services must be medically indicated, not clearly labelled as "for immigration only", and many civil surgeons in Los Angeles choose not to bill insurance at all. In those cases, you use insurance outside the immigration clinic instead.
The simplest way to use insurance for an immigration medical exam is to handle your vaccines first, then see the civil surgeon. A practical sequence:
This approach can remove hundreds of dollars of vaccine charges from your immigration exam bill and is usually the highest-impact insurance strategy.
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) are separate from insurance but can still help:
If you plan to use HSA or FSA funds, ask us at Baron Medical Group for an itemized receipt that shows:
You can then submit only the clearly medical components to your HSA or FSA administrator and keep the rest as out-of-pocket cost. Always confirm your specific eligibility with your plan before you rely on this.
Since insurance will not cover most of the exam, your choice of civil surgeon in Los Angeles should focus on transparent pricing and clear communication, not just the lowest number you see in an ad. When you call clinics, ask:
Genuine clinics will answer these questions directly. If you cannot get straight answers about costs, expect surprises later.
At Baron Medical Group, we keep the billing structure simple:
The goal is not to pretend insurance will cover the exam. It will not. The goal is to help you use the coverage you already have in a smart way so the immigration medical exam stays predictable and manageable.
Health insurance in Los Angeles does not cover the core cost of the immigration medical exam with a civil surgeon. That is true for private plans, employer insurance, Medi-Cal, Medicare, and most other coverage options. The exam fee, form completion, and administrative work are almost always your responsibility.
Where insurance can help is with the pieces around the exam: vaccines at a pharmacy, medically indicated lab tests, and sometimes eligible items paid through HSA or FSA accounts. If you handle those parts first and choose a civil surgeon with clear pricing, your total cost for an I-693 exam in Los Angeles becomes much easier to control.
If you are planning your immigration medical exam and want direct answers about insurance, pricing, and timelines, contact Baron Medical Group. Our team will walk you through what is covered, what is not, and how to keep your out-of-pocket cost as low and predictable as possible while still meeting USCIS requirements.