Home 5 Clinical Diagnostics Insider 5 BRCA Preventive Service Designation to Benefit Myriad

BRCA Preventive Service Designation to Benefit Myriad

by | Feb 21, 2015 | Clinical Diagnostics Insider, Diagnostic Testing and Emerging Technologies

In a clarification released last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, along with the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, have designated BRCA testing as a preventive service under the Affordable Care Act. This designation allows for coverage of BRCA testing with no cost sharing for asymptomatic women at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer due to a qualified family history covered under all nongrandfathered private insurance plans. There had been some initial confusion if the Affordable Care Act listed just the genetic screening or both the genetic counseling and the BRCA testing as preventive services. As such, many (nongrandfathered) insurance plans had only waived cost sharing for patient screening for the associated genetic counseling but not for the BRCA test itself. With this ambiguity removed, women who are members of nongrandfathered insurance plans and who are determined to be high-risk for mutations in breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 by their health care providers will have no out-of-pocket costs, including copays, deductibles, and coinsurance, when ordering BRCA testing. This also applies to the increasing number of patients enrolled in high-deductible plans. This designation is expected to have […]

Sign up for our free weekly Lab & Pathology Insider email newsletter

Subscribe to Clinical Diagnostics Insider to view

Start a Free Trial for immediate access to this article