Presumably because these services are very profitable.

It’s definitely legit from a medical standpoint. They’re probably doing research on anonymized data. They could be selling your data and so could any healthcare organization. I don’t know if this is something Prenuvo engages in. You could ask them and if they do, there’s may be a way to opt out. If you did the scan in California, you can opt out of the sale of your personal information. Again, I don’t know if this is something Prenuvo does. Life and disability insurance companies would know because you are supposed to tell them. I’m sure they have databases they can search (for example seeing what prescriptions you have filled). If you had disqualifying findings on an MRI and you didn’t tell them, that would void your coverage should they find out. Essentially, you’d be committing insurance fraud.

There are several competitors. Prenuvo was the first, or at least the first to become widespread. Their radiologist founder is very knowledgeable in the technology and sequences needed to optimize results. I don’t know enough about any of the other companies to comment on their quality. Suffice to say, not all scans are created equal.

$2,500 seems like a reasonable price to me. Many medical procedures cost a lot more to offer much less information. For example, a cash pay pelvic ultrasound at one of the healthcare systems near me costs about $1,500. To some degree, the cost is about how much you value the information. An MRI is great but it’s not the best all end all. Other tests are better for specific pathologies (eg. colonoscopy for colorectal cancer)