Reduced cost for BRCA testing for Ashkenazi Jews.

BluebirdOne

My husband has Ashkenazi Jewish heritage so we were looking to get him tested as well as my youngest daughter for the BRCA genes. I found this site: yodeah.org. This is a simple saliva test one can mail back to the testing lab. They subsidize the cost of this test attempting to reach as many in the Ashkenazi Jewish community as possible. The cost is greatly reduced and I also got an additional discount for two test kits. The coupon code is in the information about the tests. I had initial testing for some genes p53 and Lynch and then participated in another testing for BRCA, and others and tested negative.

I have permission to post this information from Dr. Elizabeth Etkin-Kramer, Founder of Yodeah.

 

Denise

Harmanygroves

Thank you

I have some Ashkenazi ancestry, so I have gone into the site to take a look. 

BluebirdOne

The cost is quite affordable.

Normally they would be $199 each, so $398 to get two tests, they discounted it to $98 for two tests because I bought two and they had a coupon code. So $49 for each test. This is a subsidized effort to get more at risk Ashkenazi Jews tested for BRCA 1 & 2, and Lynch to name only a few.

The Yodeah website is very informative as well, anyone who is interested I would urge to read what they are about as there is too much info for me to copy. I would normally not promote a paid service, so I will quote the Yodeah Foundation's mission statement: to educate the Jewish community about hereditary cancer genetic mutations and provide access to affordable clinical grade testing.

Denise

cmb

Genetic testing

While the costs of genetic testing have come down in price since I was tested for Lynch Syndrome almost 5 years ago, it's always helpful to hear about reputable, low cost testing options. Thanks for sharing this information.

Genetic testing is an interesting subject for me. Since I had always paid for my own health insurance until I qualified for Medicare, I was reluctant to be tested for any genetic issues that might result in a future denial of insurance coverage. While I know there are some legal safeguards in place to protect this information, I was still concerned.

And though both my parents had cancer, neither fit any typical profiles for hereditary cancers. So it was a surprise when I leaned that I had Lynch Syndrome after my cancer diagnosis. Hindsight is 20-20, but if I had known this I might have gone ahead with a hysterectomy after my first instance of vaginal bleeding (from a benign polyp) years ago.

BluebirdOne

They tested my tumor and me at the time of surgery,

for MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2, Her2 and p53 and p16 at the time of biopsy, which I believe Mayo does as a matter of course. I was not tested for BRCA or other genes until I was selected (due to having UPSC) for a study last year and was tested for a number of gene mutations, which was done for free. We were self employed and purchased our own health insurance since we were married, so privacy certainly is a concern for those not on Medicare. Having a low cost way to get tested will certainly help many to get tested who could not afford it otherwise. The one lucky thing for me was being on Medicare when I was diagnosed so I didn't have issues of routine coverage of treatment.

Denise