There is no doubt that Americans pay the most for their
healthcare. Usually we assume that when you pay more you get more and that not only are you getting more, but the
quality of what you are getting is also much better. This idea of paying more
to get more resonates all throughout culture.
That is
not always true in science and in health care. Sometimes your money input isn't seen your
quality output. Today we are going to look at the price of genetic testing and see how it has had an influence on it availability to the general public.
Let me start off by saying how upsetting it was for me to see people being exploited essentially for having to pay so much money for their genetic test.
The table below is a table that is based on a Genetic Health of approximately 38 clinical laboratories offering tests for the different genetic syndromes listed to the left.
If you look at BRCA1 and BRCA2, to get the sequencing and see if a person has any SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) that are common in breast cancer, someone would have to pay $1,290 for each gene. That is $2,580 in total!!! That is not including doctor visits and possibly surgery depending on the outcome of the test.
Seems a little much, don’t ya think?
While reading this I was thinking about insurance and how insurance would come into play and how much they would cover for this.
Often times insurance companies will cover for these tests, BUT if you want to switch insurance companies after having this test done, other insurance companies can deny your request based on what is on your record.
But what about people who don’t have insurance, or who have insurance that doesn’t cover this?
Paying out of pocket is always an option, but once again you are paying a lot of money. Often times, people who do not have insurance are people who simply can’t afford it.
So wait, let me get this straight, people can’t afford to have insurance, but yet they would be able to afford genetic test……… Yeah, I didn’t think it made sense either.
Another umbrella that people find themselves are under the “ I have insurance that could cover this, but I don’t want this on my record, so I am going to pay out of pocket.” The problem with this is that if they do pay out of pocket and they need any other medical treatment that is associated with getting a genetic test, the insurance company won’t cover it because it is not under their record that the person got it done.
Is there any hope?
While it seems like a hopeless situation, fear not! Health care and insurance has been a hot topic for our world leaders. Hopefully, they will see the importance of affordable care, both in insurance and medical treatments.
After all, a person’s accessibility to a healthy life, shouldn’t be based on their income, but rather it should be based on the fact that they are a person, and are entitled to the same medical treatment.
References:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA
http://www.genetichealth.com/gt_genetic_testing_costs_of_genetic_testing.shtml
Merna, this is a very hot topic, as you’ve mentioned, and I was shocked to see how expensive sequencing BRCA1 and BRCA2 actually is. I think we all have moral obligations, as health advocates, to address socioeconomic determinants of health. We talk about informing the public, politicians, and celebrities about the scientific method, and I think this is absolutely necessary, but scientists – especially health advocates – should not be confined to their discipline either. I believe our country could be in a better state if scientists and mindful, informed citizens began applying their knowledge and becoming more “pro-active” about reducing human suffering. If we had more medically-trained doctors who can also advocate for legislature that impact economic and social determinants of health, then, without a doubt, the healthcare landscape would be more patient-centered and less profit-oriented. Great commentary and stimulating topic! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the most hotly debated topics in nearly every media outlet; however, I think it is very interesting that the US healthcare policy is more of a political argument than actually one to help those without insurance. I think that more individuals with public health / science background should be involved in forming health law and care policies because politicians look at things from an economic stand point, and still these tests are very expensive. I can imagine that covered patients might even have their premiums increased based on their results. Well done, very intriguing topic.
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