It is unusual for an insur­ance not to cover the cost of test­ing as long as there are appro­pri­ate indi­ca­tions. Even if a patient has a deductible or copay, most labs offer gen­er­ous pay­ment plans. Often, a more appro­pri­ate fam­ily mem­ber should be tested first. If that per­son tests pos­i­tive, test­ing for other fam­ily mem­bers is con­sid­er­ably less expen­sive because the tests are just for the iden­ti­fied mutation.

For those who do not have insur­ance, most of the test­ing labs have patient assis­tance pro­grams for appro­pri­ate can­di­dates. Our insti­tu­tion also has grant funds to help with cases that may fall between the cracks.

I think one of the key issues is to make sure we are test­ing appro­pri­ately, and that means mak­ing sure the patient has met with a genetic coun­selor to help address all the finan­cial, psy­choso­cial, dis­crim­i­na­tion, and other issues asso­ci­ated with testing.

Pam Win­ter, RN, OCN^®, CBEC
Breast Health Spe­cial­ist
Bap­tist Breast Risk Man­age­ment Cen­ter
Mem­phis, TN