NIPT/NT/FTS Discussion thread

skilouise

@velvetblue88 @ tsh2021

I was 10w2d for the draw. I had my first trimester screen today (at a different office), and the doctor there didn't have very nice things to say about the lab my OB's office used (Natera).  He also prefers to wait until 12 weeks to ensure there is enough fetal DNA. We opted to do a re-draw today and send it to a different lab.  

On the plus side, the u/s portion of the first trimester screen looked great! 

tsh2021

@velvetblue88 - you can switch labs? Do they bill you twice? 

skilouise

After waiting two weeks for the first NIPT to come back as "insufficient cells," the second NIPT report from a different lab came back in only four days - on Christmas day, to be exact. We're having a girl, which has been a little challenging to wrap my head around as I've been half- convinced it would be another boy.  Two boys would have been fun - pure chaos, but fun - but I'm excited for a girl as well.

The other NIPT results all came back normal, thankfully. 

velvetblue88

Scheduled my blood draw for tomorrow morning for horizon and panorama carrier and NIPT screening. And then it'll be 2 weeks before I know more than I know now. 🤞

tuxielove93

How did you figure out if your insurance covers the NIPT? My old insurance was such a fiasco with the NT scan I wasn’t able to do it, but I have United Healthcare now. I tried to call them but the customer service woman was less than helpful. Idk if it was just her and I should try again or if insurance is less than helpful in telling you if it’s covered and I need to go through the lab themselves. 

LJMoon6

@tuxielove93 I think what I did last time was call the company that does the NIPT. I think they’re pretty familiar with the different plans and will be able to tell you. If they can’t tell you for certain then at the very least they’d be able to tell you what/how they code the test. With the code you should be able to call back to your insurance and find out.

inthewoods23

@tuxielove93 my OB gives out a packet of all sorts of prenatal info including the CPT codes for both the NT scan and the NIPT test they use. I was supposed to call my insurance and based off the codes find out if it's covered or not. Completely forgot about it until we're essentially driving to the appointment haha. Oh well... I did meet my deductible this year so maybe my cost won't be much. Sounds like if it's not covered it's about $200. My friend who sees an MFM after having a pregnancy TFMR in 2nd tri due to fluke genetic abnormalities told me she pays $100 instead through the MFM.

Insurances are just terrible at getting you the information you need. I would try again as you'll likely get a different person. I did the chat feature once to ask about the costs of some tests because their website only listed a handful of the tests I was having done. I got some generic response that my cost is going to be dependent on meeting my deductible and coinsurance etc etc. Not at all helpful. When I tried a day or 2 later I had someone else and got costs no problem. I also had better luck when on the phone with their agents over using the chat. It didn't matter though when I was trying to find out which of these tests required pre-certification. That was a whole debacle too. I ended up just having the tests done and never getting the info submitted for pre-certification.

velvetblue88

@tuxielove93 I did what @LJMoon6 suggested. My OB gave me a card with the # for the NIPT testing company, and I called them to ask. They took my insurance info and suggested I use my insurance, as it is covered.

feather_heather

@tuxielove93 - Call your doctor's office and ask for the medical/billing coding number for the test. Then you should be able to give that to the insurance and they can tell you right away. I've found that's the easiest way to see what insurance covers - instead of trying to explain what the test is and possibly be given the wrong information. 

runnergirl2018

@tuxielove93 your provider can give you the CPT code and then your insurance should tell you if it’s covered and at what amount. My OB office actually called and checked for me

velvetblue88

Bah. NIPT came back as not having enough DNA. Going to get a redraw next week, and my high risk doc will also get a closer look at baby. Last time I saw him, he said everything looks great, so I'm not really worried. I just really wanted to know the sex!!! 😆

acka55

How much did that cost you? Since my insurance doesn't cover it..

runnergirl2018

@acka55 which test are you referring to? for best total cost you can provide the CPT code to your insurane and ask what your out of pocket cost would be
I was told that the NIPT is $3000 and with my insurance I owe 10%. With my first kiddo we did cash pay through a lab and paid $300 for it and it would have been $600 with our insurance at that time

peppylilfoxy

@runnergirl2018 $3000???? ouch!!!! In Canada it was only $600

runnergirl2018

@peppylilfoxy yeah that's the amount they bill our insurance.  Since we had already met our deductible last year, i was told my out of pocket cost would be about $300. When I went for the lab for my draw they told me that my estimated cost was $60 so who knows. I haven' t seen the bill yet!.  We also did screening for SMA and CP at the same time and my OB told me that insurance is generally billed about $2500 for that, so my OOP cost would be about $250.  we paid so much out of pocket last year that I wouldn't be surprised if we actually owed less but that's what my OB said the going rate was around here. Yay the US health system 

Just edited to add, i looked on the lab website and they billed my insurance $3797 for the 3 tests so we'll see what insurance pays

mamaheather7

How accurate is gender determination in the NiPT test ? 

stardustskies

@mamaheather7 It's super accurate

mamaheather7

For everyone who has gotten the NIPT test so far, what was your fetal fraction percentage? And what was your gestation. I know that the smaller fetal fraction number the more likely the test could be wrong, not completely sure how accurate that is though.

runnergirl2018

@mamaheather7 mine was 9.9% at 11 weeks. I don’t know much about it besides doc wasn’t concerned. Looks like there are different ranges of percentages that are normal and others than indicate possible issues either with test or pregnancy. 

inthewoods23

@mamaheather7 from what I just read, it looks like it needs to be at least 4%. Mine said 8%

mamaheather7

I’m worried now, mine said 18% at 12 weeks

inthewoods23

@mamaheather7 There's likely more fetal DNA floating around as you get further along which is why they don't have you do the NIPT until at least 11 weeks. Can't recall if it can be done at 10 weeks. But I digress.

If it makes you feel better, ask your doctor about the fetal fraction and if it indicates anything concerning. The only worrying things I could find is that it could mean a lower birth rate and/or growth restriction.

katy5787

Mine was greater than 30% at 10w1d. I used Myriad and they have a special technology where they can isolate even more of baby’s cells than they used to. I also used Myriad with my last pregnancy in 2020 and the blood was drawn at 10w5d and the fetal fraction was 11% then. Crazy how much they’ve improved their technology in less than 2 years!

mamaheather7

@katy5787

my test says Clari but when I was getting it done the box I was holding said harmony. I am so confused.

LJMoon6

Finally got our results back yesterday. It took almost 2 weeks! We are low risk for everything and are having a baby girl!!!!!! We're still in shock since we figured we'd only be having boys lol.

zinnia19

Ok I now understand how hard it is to wait for these dang NIPT results! Its been a week and a half and I just need to know NOW!! Haha 😄 

zwink1

Out of curiosity for anyone willing to share, what are you seeing for costs for your NT scans?  I recently received the bill(s) for mine, and I'm more than a little blown away.  It was far, far higher than I was expecting and much more than I was charged last time around.  

runnergirl2018

@zwink1 I had NIPT and 2 other genetic tests done at the same time and I think my OOP cost is $80.  I was told it would be probably $500-600 for both tests. Of note we had already met our deductible at time of test and who knows how much of our total OOP cost for the year (i've received very slow billing from my OB office) so it was actually lower than i was expecting.  What was yours?

zwink1

@runnergirl2018, I had an NT scan and the associated bloodwork, but ended up not doing NIPT.  My deductible of course rolled over in Jan, and my NT scan was of course right after the roll over, so insurance "negotiated adjustments" but otherwise covered exactly $0 of the actual bill... so, I will end up paying all of the $1900+ out of pocket.  

As the billing rep I "spoke" to today so helpfully highlighted repeatedly, it will be applied to my deductible (actually already has).  So at least it takes a big chunk out of that already for this year but I was very much not expecting it to be that insanely expensive for what was essentially a 15 minute ultrasound appointment that I didn't even see a Dr for.  I know I paid significantly less last time around, but that was a different provider and different insurance.  

runnergirl2018

@zwink1 i totally misread! I"m so sorry.  I didn't have an NT scan this time around but i did last time and I don't remember it being any more than a regular ultrasound - at least not that much more! My OB at the time and/or with my insurance i had "global maternity" coverage and so I paid a certain fee (i think like $1600) that covered all my OB appointments except for labs and ultrasounds, but i don't remember paying anything more really than a regular US fee when i had the NT at that time.  and I KNOW we had not met our deductible - i ended up being pretty mad because even though I had paid all that up front to the OB, they didn't bill my insurance until the end of my pregnancy so none of the $1600 was reflected until much later  It all evened out and they ended up having to refund me some money by the time all the insurance claims were filed.  
If it makes you feel better, I learned that having an transvaginal ultrasound and abdominal ultrasounds are 2 fees even if they do them both in the same visit, like why if you can' t see on my abdomen in like 30 seconds do you get to charge my insurance $500 for that and then do a TV and charge another $500, but apparently it's the standard 

zwink1

@runnergirl2018, yes, see that's what I remembered as well!  My insurance was also giving me an out of pocket range of $300-600, so I was more than a little floored when I got the bill.  I was charged for 2 separate ultrasound fees and 2 separate facility use fees under 2 different codes (so 4 total charges) despite them only doing one abdominal ultrasound (that's crazy about the TV and abdominal ultrasound charges btw).  I've called them 3 times over the last 2 days and they're now conducting a review but I'm sure they'll determine that the charges are accurate and send the bill back to me.

I don't think all of the ultrasounds I had done during my IVF retrieval cycle combined totalled the charge for this one, 15 minute ultrasound.  It's just so unbelievably, outrageously expensive.  US healthcare is in need of some major regulatory reform... but then we all know that already. 

runnergirl2018

@zwink1 it's nuts! I only found out about the TV and abdominal charge thing when i had to have both 2 weeks in a row in the process of diagnosing a MMC, and then 2 more ultrasounds weekly there after. we tried to contest it with the doc office because it seemed ridiculous (i think my OOP cost was $150 for each, so $300 for both). Like if i'm working on a car and i need a different tool to see something, i'm not charging you per tool i use. as a therapist i'm not charging someone per skill i teach them. My sis that is a nurse confirmed that it's the standard practice.  I ended up with a $2k doc bill for 4 weeks in a row of ultrasounds and doc appointments, plus $2500 for the d&c at the hospital in August.  So when we were talking about testing for this pregnancy in december, I was like let's do it all since i've already paid a million dollars this year  

Hope they can reduce some of the fee for you!

inthewoods23

@runnergirl2018 this year was the first year I had met my deductible (thanks reproductive immunology testing!) and omg it's amazing how cheap things get when you're actually out of the deductible phase. I was having weekly ultrasounds, progesterone, and estrogen checks in December at the end of 1st tri. I think the ultrasounds came out to like $35-45! Why can't it be that ALL the time?

runnergirl2018

@inthewoods23 my first kid was born at the end of november one year, and then 7 weeks PP i had an emergency gallbladder removal - so mid January. requiring an ER visit, 2 surgeries, an da couple days in the hospital.  You can imagine that I met not only our deductible but we actually hit our OOP maximum for the YEAR of $6k for that one occurance.  It was the bet blessing in disguise because we had no medical costs that year and as a first time mom, it made scheduling appts/sick visits and such for my kid so much easier because I wasn't worriying about the money (mind you it took a bit to pay off that hospital bill)

gharmon412

Did anyone else get the materniT21 test done? How long did it take you to get your results back? According to their website it says five to seven days but now it's been over a week..  I'm waiting for these results to be able to share the news with my parents(who can't keep a secret) and my boss and the waiting is driving me NUTS. 

inthewoods23

@gharmon412 I had the MaterniT21 test done. Had the blood drawn on a Thursday, got the results the following Thursday - and that blood draw was right before Christmas so even with a holiday it still came in a timely manner. I'd contact your OB to see if they got the results although I remember my clinic telling me that I may see the results in my portal before they see it.