Stand Up for APA Applauds Humana and Centene Decision to Cover Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing, Calls on UnitedHealthcare to Follow Suit

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Stand Up for APA, a nonprofit working to ensure that all women in the United States receive access to the most accurate non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) options, today applauded the recent decisions by two major health insurance providers, Humana and Centene, to extend coverage for non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) to all pregnant women. This is another significant milestone in the effort to make the highest standard of prenatal care available for all mothers.

“Stand Up for APA applauds Humana and Centene’s decision to extend coverage of NIPT to all pregnant women, which will ensure that fewer expecting mothers will suffer from the consequences of getting inaccurate information about their babies from older prenatal screening tests,” said Brianna Wetherbe, Director and Board Member of Stand Up for APA.

With this decision, Humana and Centene join nearly every other major health insurance company—including Anthem, Cigna, Health Care Services Corporation (HCSC), Wellcare, Optima, and more—in offering coverage for NIPT. However, UnitedHealthcare remains a conspicuous outlier, as its competitors offer superior prenatal testing coverage for women that aligns with the latest professional medical society guidelines.

“With Humana and Centene’s recent policy changes, and Aetna’s decision to cover NIPT for all pregnant women regardless of age or baseline risk at least during COVID-19, UnitedHealthcare now stands alone in ignoring the latest American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) guidelines that endorse NIPT to all patients as the most accurate screening option for fetal chromosomal abnormalities,” Brianna continued. “By denying pregnant women access to NIPT, UnitedHealthcare is injecting unnecessary anxiety on top of every expectant mother’s stress by preventing them from receiving the most accurate prenatal information about their baby.”

With over 20 million members in the U.S., Humana is one of the top 5 largest private health insurance provider in the United States. Centene is the largest Medicaid managed care organization in the country, covering more than 7.2 million members. When accounting for all people covered by member plans, it is estimated that nearly 40 million more insured lives are now covered for NIPT following these policy changes.

To learn more about NIPT access and Stand Up for APA, please visit: standup4apa.org  

Stand Up for Accurate Prenatal Answers (Stand Up for APA) is a nonprofit founded by mothers for mothers, working to ensure that all women in the United States are treated equally by receiving the most accurate, non-invasive prenatal genetic screening information available about the health of their baby, regardless of race, color, age, or socioeconomic status. We are driven to remove limitations related to insurance coverage and income or age discrimination that prevent many pregnant women from being offered the most accurate prenatal screening information available.