$499, and you never have to slide into an MRI machine. That's the price point for Neko Health's upcoming full-body health scan launch in New York—just a fraction of Prenuvo's entry-level $1,200 package, not to mention the latter's deep-scan option that can run up to $4,000. The gap isn't just about numbers; it's two entirely different technological approaches. Neko skips MRI altogether, relying instead on 2D cameras, thermal imaging cameras, and depth sensors, paired with blood draws, skin checks, blood pressure, and heart rate data to piece together a map of your body's condition.
Neko Health has already set up shop in Sweden and the UK, and this marks its first foray into the US market, with New York as the starting point. Co-founder and CEO Hjalmar Nilsonne said: "New York felt like the right place to bring this idea to America—it's a city where people are used to accessing top-tier services of all kinds, and we don't think healthcare should be an exception." The brand says it plans to expand to Miami, Washington DC, and San Francisco next, with over 350,000 sign-ups already on its global waitlist.
Nilsonne also laid out the brand's positioning plainly: "Understanding your health shouldn't wait until something goes wrong. Our goal has always been to make high-quality preventive healthcare truly accessible to everyone."
The commercial full-body scan space is already crowded with players. Prenuvo offers a head-to-thigh scan paired with bloodwork, plus options like full-body scans with body composition analysis, brain scans, and cardiac health scans, with locations in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington DC. Function's Ezra brand offers its lowest-tier plan scanning the head, neck, abdomen, and pelvis, while its top-tier plan covers nearly the entire body, with cardiac and lung CT scans available as add-ons, and service spanning 40 US states. SimonMed centers its offering on core MRI scans, adding head, neck, and spine imaging, with locations concentrated in Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California.
The Medical Community Still Has Doubts About "Health Checks Without MRI"
The American Medical Association (AMA) has been clear on where it stands: these types of scans "have not yet been scientifically validated as screening tools," and more research is needed before determining whether they're worth the time and money. A commentary published in JAMA this past May cautioned consumers to proceed with "buyer beware." The American College of Radiology (ACR), in a 2023 statement, said that for patients without clinical symptoms, risk factors, or family history, the organization "does not believe there is sufficient evidence to recommend whole-body screening."
Dr. Alexander McKinney, chair of radiology at the University of Miami Health System, points out that full-body MRI has value for high-risk populations, particularly in cancer screening, but "the vast majority of people are five to seven times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than from anything else, and CT scans are actually better at detecting those risk factors"—which happens to be something most full-body scan packages don't include by default, requiring an extra add-on. Dr. Richard Reitherman, medical director of breast imaging at Memorial Care Breast Center in Fountain Valley, California, directly flagged the limitations of full-body MRI for breast cancer screening: "Since full-body MRI isn't a contrast-enhanced scan, it's particularly ineffective for breast cancer screening." His bigger concern is that people who've had one full-body scan might mistakenly assume they've gotten a clean bill of health, and skip screenings that actually have scientific evidence behind them, like contrast-enhanced breast MRI or lung cancer CT scans.
Dr. Ernest Hawk, division head of cancer prevention and population sciences at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, offers a more balanced take. He believes public interest in these scans reflects, to some degree, "a broader public understanding of how important screening is for cancer prevention," amplified further by social media buzz that's suddenly made Americans highly interested in the concept. But he also stresses: "There's currently zero evidence that this improves anyone's health outcomes—scientists measure benefit by reduction in mortality, and that data simply doesn't exist yet." He also warns that once you screen for something, you risk finding abnormalities that are actually irrelevant to lifespan or quality of life, and the cost and anxiety of follow-up testing are hidden downsides.
Of course, individual success stories do exist. Emmy-winning executive producer Dionne Harmon publicly shared last year that she booked a Prenuvo scan after seeing Kim Kardashian's recommendation, and discovered stage 3 lung cancer with no symptoms whatsoever. Kardashian herself has revealed that a scan found a small brain aneurysm, leading her to schedule further brain imaging (whether medical intervention was needed was never disclosed). Dr. Hawk's take on this: if you can afford it and are willing to accept the possibility of unnecessary follow-up testing, "there's certainly a chance this could catch something at an earlier stage, showing potential benefit—we just don't have the data yet to prove how much good this approach actually does."
Neko Health has not yet announced the exact address of its New York location or when bookings will open. Full-body health scans currently aren't endorsed as a standard screening tool by any major medical association, so it's recommended you discuss whether this type of test is right for you with your own doctor before booking.
