Cost of DNA testing

[Guest guest]

Hi guys:

I've been the reading the " would you " posts and I'm just wondering

if those of you who have had the DNA testing mind telling me how much

this cost and if your insurance paid for it. I went to the

neurologist last week and she ordered the CMT panel of test for me.

When I got to the lab the technician said that their lab ( in the

neuro's building) didn't do the CMT test. Then she called Quest and

LabPro and they both denied doing the test. The only one she could

find to do it was Athena. Then, my insurance says they will only pay

60% because Athena is out of network! The price Athena quoted for

the full panel of tests was $3,581.00. Ouch! I couldn't even afford

to pay 40% of that! So, I went back up to the dr.'s office and

talked to her about it. She decided to just start with a nerve

conduction test. She said that since I didn't test positive 17 years

ago, I still my have a type that hasn't been defined and why waste my

money.

Oh, and about the " would you " question, I didn't know I had CMT when

I had my kids. I'm glad I didn't because I have two really great

sons. My oldest does have CMT and sometimes it breaks my heart and I

am full of guilt, but I can't imagine my life without my kids. Not

only that, there's no guarantee that you might not have a child with

some other type of disease, disability or deformity. When it's your

child, you don't look at their disability and judge their value to

you or society. I believe that if we live long enough all of us will

at some point have a disability, even if it is just from natural

aging. I would hate to think that people stopped creating for fear

of not having a " perfect " baby. All babies are perfect, and

different, and special.

Sorry this got so long!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

We just had the blood drawn for my sons DNA test. I made sure before hand our

insurance would pay for it. Luckily Athena is in network for our insurance

company. It seems pretty silly since they are the only lab that does the test.

I have not received a bill yet but I looked the claim up online and we will have

to pay $100 deductible.

According to the claim the test was a little over $7000. I didn't think it was

going to be so much but it was broken down into several parts, not sure why.

Also I called Athena before hand they have a program that helps with the cost if

you call before you have the test done. The number and some info is on their

website.

My son had the nerve tests as well and it showed he had type 1. It should at

least be able to tell you if you have type 1 or type 2.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My son had DNA testing done through Athena in Oct 06 and the total cost was

around $9,000. He had a complete CMT eval ($6,800) and another one to rule out

the cause being from and auto immune disease. Athena does offer a patient

advocacy program where if your insurance won't pay for it you will only be

responsible for 20% of the cost - which is still a good chunk of change. There

may be other programs depending on your income/etc. Also, it can take at least

a month to get the results.

Some how, and I'm still trying to understand it, Athena was and out-of-network

provider but since I went to an in-network lab for the blood draw the testing

was covered as in-network. I have my own deductibles and co-insurance that I am

responsible for.

Also, my son's results showed a new mutation that had never been seen before and

Athena ran another type of test - free of charge - to see if they could specify

which type of CMT it is. They weren't about to give a definitive answer to

which type but based on the gene it involved (the MPZ) they were able to " guess "

as to which one they thought it was as they are not able to " offically " say what

type they think it is. Also, turned out that my sister had the same mutation.

Anyway, my thought from my experiece is that Athena could still be able to tell

if it is CMT even if it is a new mutation and a lot of new testing is now

available the wasn't 17 years ago.

If you go to Athena's website there is a lot of info regarding testing/costs and

a number for the patient advocacy program. I found the people at Athena to be

very helpful in explaining how things works.

Good luck.

Carmella