Cost for genetic testing for meds

[Anonymous]

How much did it cost when you did this, and did insurance cover it?

Psychiatrist suggested it because of various diagnoses and family history - to help get anxiety and ADHD meds that would be most effective without a ton of trial and error. She said it would be costly, but we swear we don't remember the cost being anywhere near what we ended up with. Insurance won't cover any, and it seems like there's an error somewhere - the cost is more than his neuropsych eval!!

[Anonymous]

Bump. Anybody?

[Anonymous]

It depends on your insurance. It’s been free for us and our insurance fully covered it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. It was $5000! I expected maybe $500.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It was $5000! I expected maybe $500.

Depending on the testing I was told outside my insurance it would easily be $5k and that was many years ago for my kid. About to do it for me this time and free but there is a medical need and specialist is ordering it. I’m not sure I’d do it again for my kid. Nothing was found at the time but tests are more advanced now as I worried about the impact of getting health insurance and the cost-benefit.

[Anonymous]

Can your primary care or another specialist order it and get it covered.

[Anonymous]

Had this done about 4 years ago and it was around $500; however, the results were of no help at all. Maybe the newer tests are more expensive but hopefully more informative?

[Anonymous]

Technically, if you use 23andMe or a similar company, you can get your own raw data. If the psychiatrist knows what they are looking for, you can check the gene. It requires a bit of work on your part, but 5K is highway robbery.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that this testing is not all that helpful. My psychiatrist had me do it years ago, but I doubt he'd have someone pay to do it today.

I am shocked that it is 5k. I think I paid several hundred.

[Anonymous]

My psychiatrist wasn’t high on the idea of doing it and recommended holding off in case we absolutely couldn’t find the right meds. I think it would have been about 700, but we did decide to just try meds first. Luckily we found the right ones and didn’t need to test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that this testing is not all that helpful. My psychiatrist had me do it years ago, but I doubt he'd have someone pay to do it today.

I am shocked that it is 5k. I think I paid several hundred.

I would think insurance would cover at least part of it.

[Anonymous]

We paid $300 out of pocket 4-5 years ago. I don’t know if the insurance paid anything. Our experience is that the test helps more with dosage than which medicine. My understanding is that it helps identify how fast or slow the patient metabolizes each medication, not necessarily what will work or not.

[Anonymous]

What does Color cost? See if tge genes you need are covered..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that this testing is not all that helpful. My psychiatrist had me do it years ago, but I doubt he'd have someone pay to do it today.

I am shocked that it is 5k. I think I paid several hundred.

I would think insurance would cover at least part of it.

It’s been awhile since I did any reading on this. But as recently as a few years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for insurance not to cover it because while the testing provided some information it was not associated with better outcomes.

I discussed testing with my son’s psychiatrist and he wouldn’t even order it because of the lack of proven benefit.

This does seem like a situation of buyer beware. Most of us don’t schedule a neuropsych until we know the cost. I’m not sure why someone would assume $500 without some basis. Hopefully the lab will work with OP for a payment plan if this creates a financial hardship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that this testing is not all that helpful. My psychiatrist had me do it years ago, but I doubt he'd have someone pay to do it today.

I am shocked that it is 5k. I think I paid several hundred.

I would think insurance would cover at least part of it.

It’s been awhile since I did any reading on this. But as recently as a few years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for insurance not to cover it because while the testing provided some information it was not associated with better outcomes.

I discussed testing with my son’s psychiatrist and he wouldn’t even order it because of the lack of proven benefit.

This does seem like a situation of buyer beware. Most of us don’t schedule a neuropsych until we know the cost. I’m not sure why someone would assume $500 without some basis. Hopefully the lab will work with OP for a payment plan if this creates a financial hardship.

Agree, I’m just wondering if another specialist ordered it woukd it be covered. As in a medical vs mental health issue.