HbA1c, HOMA-IR and homocysteine are three blood measurements that sit above the basic panel: they describe how your metabolism has behaved over months rather than on the morning of the test. All three appear only in the upper programs, and this page says which and why each one is worth the rung.
HbA1c, HOMA-IR and homocysteine. Each answers a question a single fasting glucose cannot.
Average blood glucose over roughly three months, so one careful breakfast cannot hide a pattern.
KMI STANDARD, where glycated haemoglobin is part of the standard blood panel. (≈$373)
Hanaro Gold, the only partner programme that names insulin resistance as a measurement. (≈$1,475)
One week is the earliest an imaging slot can be held, and there is no referral step before it.
English report in your hands in about a week. You also get a consultation on preliminary findings on the day of the screening, before you leave.
Programme contents and prices from each partner centre's own foreigner-facing published list, read 2026-08-05: KMI Global and Hanaro Medical Foundation's English site. Standalone per-test prices are a Korean partner centre's 비급여 (non-covered) posting, the itemised list 의료법 제45조 requires a clinic to publish, read the same day. Scheduling and report turnaround are Meridiko's own operating figures, confirmed 2026-08-06, not a centre's published ones (https://global.kmi.or.kr/examination/foreigner_examination; https://en-mobile.hanaromf.com/program/prog01/prog01_01.jsp), measured 2026-08-05. Dollar figures are converted from each centre's won price at ₩1,342 = $1 (open.er-api.com, 2026-09-13). The won figure is the price; the pairing moves with the rate.
HbA1c gives average glucose over about three months, which is how diabetes and pre-diabetes are graded. HOMA-IR estimates insulin resistance, which can be present for years while fasting glucose still reads normal. Homocysteine is an independent cardiovascular risk marker and rises when B12 or folate is low.
None of them is a diagnosis on its own. A raised homocysteine does not mean heart disease, and HOMA-IR is a calculated estimate rather than a direct measurement of anything. They earn their place by changing what a doctor looks at next.
Suits: Anyone with a family history of type 2 diabetes, anyone carrying weight around the middle with normal fasting glucose, and anyone whose cholesterol is being treated but whose cardiovascular risk still feels unexplained.
Should not have it: Anyone hoping a marker panel replaces the boring measurements. Blood pressure, waist circumference and a lipid panel do more of the work than any of these three, and all of them are in the cheapest program on this site.
A basic fasting glucose is a snapshot of one morning. HbA1c is a three-month average. That difference is the entire reason the upper programs carry it, and it is the single most useful upgrade in this group.
None of the three tiers this site prices itemises these by name. HbA1c and homocysteine appear from Hanaro's Silver program, and HOMA-IR from its Gold. If a metabolic work-up is the reason for the trip, say so in the request: the difference between programs here is specific and worth choosing deliberately.
