My Life Line Screening Review – Is It a Good Idea?

If you’re 50 or older, chances are you’ve heard of Life Line Screening. You may have found this page doing a Google search for “Life Line Screening review.” You may have even had screenings done by them. I recently took advantage of a screening promotion they were offering. This is my very detailed Life Line Screening review. Feel free to take in the whole thing or jump to various sections of this review by clicking on any of the links in the table of contents below.

My Introduction to Life Line Screening

A couple years ago I kept hearing ads on the radio for Life Line Screening. I was always intrigued when I heard them and even made a note at one point to look into it, but for whatever reason didn’t.

Fast forward two years later to early November 2022 and my wife got a marketing mailer from Life Line Screening. While she wasn’t interested, I was, especially since I had heard their radio ads a couple years prior. I have no idea how they got her name and why she got a mailer and I didn’t. It was the first time that we had received anything from Life Line Screening, at least that I could remember anyway.

The mailer said they were going to be at a local area church conducting screenings on December 2, 2022. The flyer promoted four specific screenings for $149. The screenings were for:

• Carotid Artery Disease
• Peripheral Artery Disease
• Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
• Atrial Fibrillation (I know I didn’t need this one but it was part of the promotional package)

I didn’t immediately do anything with the flyer. I put it in my desk drawer with a mental note to look into sometime later in the month.

A couple weeks later I had my atrial flutter episode. Suddenly I was very interested in my health. Don’t get me wrong, I’m also generally interested in my health but normally I wouldn’t be motivated to go through the time and expense of preventative screenings if I didn’t have any active health issues going on.

Had I not just been through three days of hell dealing with atrial flutter, I probably would have left that flyer sitting in my desk and wouldn’t have done anything with it. But since I was now dealing with a heart issue again and facing a second ablation, I figured now was the time to finally take action on this Life Line Screening thing I had been hearing about for so long.

Is Life Line Screening a Legitimate Company?

I did some digging around on Google just to verify that Life Line Screening was a legitimate company. A quick search revealed they were legit. According to Wikipedia the company started in Florida back in 1993 and is now headquartered in Austin, TX with operational offices in Ohio.

Reading Life Line Screening Online Reviews

I was glad to see the company had an A+ rating with the BBB, but I was a little concerned with the poor review rating it had . At the time, it had a measly 1.94 review rating out of 5 and had over 220 complaints. After looking more closely at the negative reviews and complaints, they were mostly people complaining about wait times or equipment malfunctions that resulted in their screening appointment being cancelled at the last minute, or people complaining about the membership plan they sell (more on that later). I wasn’t concerned about any of the negative reviews I read.

Based on the legitimacy of the company and the reviews of Life Line Screening, I decided to move forward to make an appointment for the screenings.

My Experience with Life Line Screening

I set my appointment with Life Line Screening online. I did not call them or email them so I have no idea what the experience is like if you schedule an appointment that way. The flyer had a simple bar code to scan with my phone that took me to an online appointment scheduler. The online scheduling and payment process was super simple. They had plenty of appointment times and the whole process to book an appointment and submit payment via a credit card took less than 10 minutes.

I made my appointment a few weeks in advance but Life Line Screening sent me a couple appointment reminders leading up to my appointment.

When my appointment day came, I headed to the local church they were doing the screenings at. From what I could gather from my research online, it seemed that Life Line Screening set up shop mostly at local churches.

As I was heading to the church, my primary concern was the potential wait time because some of the negative reviews were people complaining about long wait times. I determined that if I had to wait for more than an hour I was going to leave and either do the screening on another day or see if I could get a refund.

Thankfully, when I arrived at the church the parking lot was fairly empty. There were only about six cars. Then just outside the church doors was a large sandwich board sign that said Life Line Screening welcomes walk ins. I was relieved to see that because I assumed that those people complaining about long wait times were probably walk ins without an appointment. I figured the empty parking lot and the fact that I had an appointment all but guaranteed I wouldn’t have to wait too long if I had to wait at all.

When I entered the church, everything was set up in a large room of the church. It was sort of a banquet room, or a room where the church would gather for coffee and donuts after a church service. There wasn’t anyone at the check in table but after about a minute of just standing there a Life Line Screening employee walked over to the table to check me in. She was friendly but all business. I could tell she was busy as it was apparent she was doing some of the screenings and checking people in.

At the check-in table were all sorts of signs promoting additional screenings you could sign up for. I decided to add the vitamin D and High Sensitive C-Reactive Protein tests. I honestly don’t remember what they cost but I want to say it was around $100. I knew the prices of these additional tests were higher than other at-home tests you can order online but I figured as long as I was there I might as well get them done. I was o.k. paying a little more for convenience.

The whole check-in process took maybe five minutes, and that included the time to add the additional tests I signed up for. After I got checked in, I was asked to take a chair and they would call me when it was my time.

They had a section in the room with about 20 folding chairs set up. There were already four people waiting as I took a seat. As I sat there the whole atmosphere of the place was strange. This particular room didn’t have any windows and the lighting was awful. It felt like being in a darkened, mostly empty basement room. The pictures you see on this blog post were taken as I was waiting. You can sort of get a sense of the vibe of the room.

It was also eerily quiet in the room except for music playing from a tiny Bluetooth speaker they had sitting on one of the chairs next to me. The music playing was as strange as the atmosphere as it was a mix of country, pop, and Spanish.

When I took my seat, it was about fifteen minutes before my appointment time. Given that there were only four others waiting and the place seemed dead, I was certain not only would my screenings begin on time, but maybe there was a chance I would get done early.

Within a few minutes the same lady that checked me in called me into one of the make shift screening areas. I was thrilled. My screenings were starting way ahead of time!

The lady asked me to take a seat and then rapidly poked my finger to take blood for my vitamin D and High Sensitive C-Reactive Protein tests. She was incredibly efficient. Again, she was friendly but all business. She seemed hurried. After the blood draw, she asked me to take a seat again and wait for my name to be called for the other screenings.

As I sat there a few more people filtered in. Then about 10-15 minutes later I was called into another screening area by a different Life Line Screening employee. Like the other lady, she was friendly but also all business. Clearly their primary focus is to get you in and out of your screenings ASAP. There is no small talk or wasting time!

She first did the carotid artery disease screening. For this screening I laid on my back and then she placed an ultrasound wand on both sides of my neck. It was totally painless and only took a couple of minutes.

After that screening, she did the abdominal aortic aneurysm screening. This time, the ultrasound wand was placed on my belly. This was another totally painless and quick screening.

I was then asked to take a seat again to wait for my next screenings. I waited for probably another 10-15 minutes when I was called into another screening area by the same lady that checked me in and did my blood draw. She was working alongside another lady for my final screenings.

From what I could tell then, there were only three Life Line Screening employees working at the time I was there. Again, the place wasn’t that busy at all so they were more than capable to keep up with everything, but it explained why they were all “hurried” and “all business” throughout the process.

The final screenings were for peripheral artery disease and atrial fibrillation. For the peripheral artery screening I laid on my back and they placed blood pressure cuffs on my arms and legs to measure the blood flow. While one of the ladies was doing that screening the other lady was doing the 6-lead EKG to screen for atrial fibrillation. Both screenings were painless and took only minutes to complete.

I would guess the total time I spent from the time I checked in to the time I left was about 45 minutes to an hour. I was completely satisfied with the total time it took for the screenings. Heading into the appointment I figured the best-case scenario would be to get out of there within an hour. Mission accomplished!

My Life Line Screening Test Results

They don’t give you the results for any of your screenings when you are there. Although if you read some of the Life Line Screening reviews, some people said they were told of their test results “on the spot” because something was found during the screening that required immediate attention (i.e. their carotid artery was almost completely blocked). I don’t know if they really do that or not. It would make sense that they would if they found something that required urgent attention.

I was simply told that I would get all of my test results within a few weeks.

As promised, I got all of my Life Line Screening test results within three weeks. In fact, they came much earlier than that. I think I had all of my test results back within a couple of weeks. All of my test results were normal. Following are screenshots of all my test results.

Can You Trust Life Line Screening Test Results?

I never doubted my test results until just recently when I started doing more and more research on Life Line Screening to prepare for the writing of this review. I found some articles and blog posts that talked about how these screenings have the potential to be inaccurate. According to what I read, you can be told everything is normal when it is not, or vice versa.

Now, I don’t know if those criticisms and concerns were specific to Life Line Screening’s tests, or to these types of preventative tests in general. I suspect it is the latter. All preventative tests and screenings have the potential to be inaccurate.

While I feel confident in my test results from Life Line Screening, I will admit after reading those articles and blog posts they gave me some concern. I’d say my confidence level went from 100% to 90%. I’m satisfied with my results and I’m not losing sleep that they may not be 100% accurate.

Of course it’s easy to trust any test results when they are normal. What if your test results from Life Line Screening aren’t normal?

All preventative tests and screenings have the possibility for false positives, no matter who is doing them. False positives are the primary reason why most doctors don’t do these types of preventative tests and screenings unless you are at high risk or have symptoms that might indicate something is wrong.

The other issue that doctors have about these preventative tests and screenings is that they can often lead to unnecessary concern, worry, and anxiety. They can also lead to further tests and procedures that are totally unnecessary. I experienced this first hand when my liver enzymes were slightly elevated after a routine blood test. I was freaked out and I ended up having a follow up liver exam done that turned out to be totally unnecessary as my liver was normal.

Should these concerns stop you from being screened by Life Line Screening or any other company or doctor? Most people would say yes. I wholeheartedly disagree.

I’m a huge fan of preventative tests and screenings, if you go into them with the right mindset and you have a game plan of what you’re going to do if they come back positive or show areas of concern.

If you decide to move forward with Life Line Screening and your test results come back positive or show areas of concern, don’t panic. The first thing you have to remember is that there is always a possibility of false positives. If your results are positive, they may in fact be negative.

If your results come back positive or show areas of concern, obviously talk to your doctor. Your doctor will likely want you to be retested. If those retests come back positive as well, then you may have a legitimate health issue to deal with. That will be between you and your doctor.

I say “may” because sometimes positive test results don’t necessarily mean action is required immediately. For example, my doctor has been urging me to do the PSA test but I’ve been reluctant because I know if my PSA is high, I will completely lose my mind and never sleep again.

He assured me that a high PSA score, if that was the case, wouldn’t necessarily mean I’d have to have a battery of tests and procedures done. He said for a lot of his patients the first PSA test is done to establish a baseline. If it comes up abnormally high, unless it is really high, he will often take a “wait and see” approach and monitor the score over time. If the score stays the same and there are no symptoms, then all is well. If it continues to go up or symptoms occur, then there may be some concern and further tests and procedures may be necessary.

Do I recommend Life Line Screening?

As I already mentioned, I’m a fan of preventative tests and screening if you approach them with the right mindset and game plan. Having said that, I am not going to recommend that everyone reading this should should sign up for Life Line Screening.

I recommend Life Line Screening if you are 50 or older and want peace of mind that all is well and you are able to handle potential false positives. I also recommend Life Line Screening if you are at high risk, or have symptoms, for any of the diseases you are being screened for.

For everyone else, I would not recommend Life Line Screening or any company that does preventative tests and screening. Of course, if you’re just the curious type and want to know your numbers regardless of your age and health, go for it. These screenings are totally painless and aren’t terribly expensive so no harm is done if you do decide to move forward even if you are younger and perfectly healthy.

If you do decide to move forward with Life Line Screening there are a couple things to be aware of. Some Life Line Screening reviews say that their agents engage in high pressure sales tactics to get you to sign up for all sorts of tests and screenings. If that is true, just prepare for it. Know precisely what tests and screenings you want and stick with them. Don’t let them talk you into doing more! I didn’t experience this myself because when I signed up I didn’t talk to anyone as I did everything online.

Some of the negative Life Line Screening reviews also indicated that people had a hard time cancelling the membership plans they signed up for, or had no idea they had signed up for one. Again, I don’t know anything about this because it wasn’t an issue for me. I don’t even recall being presented with an option to join a membership plan when I signed up online. And when I submitted payment, I carefully reviewed everything I was being charged for. There was no indication I was being charged for a membership plan or was signing up for one.

If you don’t want to join a membership plan, the don’t sign up for one. And if you sign up for Life Line Screening online, review everything before submitting payment to ensure you’re not paying for, or signing up for, any membership plan.

Finally, some Life Line Screening reviews I read also said that they hound you afterwards with sales emails, mailings, and phone calls to get you to do more tests. So far I haven’t experienced any of that. I haven’t received a single sales email, mailer, or phone call from Life Line Screening. If I do, no big deal. I’m constantly getting bombarded with sales emails, mailers, calls, and even texts now. It’s par for the course these days. They don’t bother me because I just request they stop or I just ignore them. You can do the same if they do hound you.

If you’ve done Life Line Screening, I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below!

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