Willingness to Pay for Genetic Testing: A Study of Attitudes in a Canadian Population

Abstract

Background: This article reports results of a 2008 telephone survey of approximately 1,200 residents of the Province of Alberta, Canada. The majority of respondents reside in urban centers, have some post-secondary education, and report annual family income near or above the Canadian average. The goal was to explore attitudes and interest regarding different types of genetic tests. Methods: Respondents were asked about their willingness to pay for tests to gain information about genetic factors related to manageable conditions, serious, unpreventable disease, healthy food choices, psychiatric conditions, going bald (asked of men only), and gaining weight. The price categories were CAD 0, CAD 1–499, CAD 500–1,999 and CAD 2,000+. Respondents were also asked about factors that would motivate interest in genetic testing, such as availability of treatment, curiosity, and reproductive decision-making. They were also asked if the public health insurance system should pay for certain types of tests. Results: Across all test categories, few respondents expressed willingness to pay more than CAD 500 out of their own pocket. 62% stated that the public health insurance system should pay for genetic tests for manageable conditions and opinion was divided about whether the government should fund tests for serious, unpreventable conditions and tests to inform healthy eating choices. Conclusion: The principal motivator for interest in genetic testing was to learn clinically relevant details to inform health-related decisions. Curiosity about genetic risk had only a modest impact on consumer interest. In general, younger respondents (18–35 years) expressed somewhat greater willingness to pay than older respondents, especially those 65 and older.

A Critical View of the General Public‘s Awareness and Physicians‘ Opinion of the Trends and Potential Pitfalls of Genetic Testing in Greece

“…Of course, this proportion is critically dependent on the health benefits, as these are perceived by the patient, and hence the latter percentage is likely to be smaller in relation to those tests that do not provide such information, for example, pharmacogenomic tests predicting drug toxicity versus efficacy. These findings are in contrast with those from a recent survey in Canada that indicated that very few respondents were willing to pay for genetic testing to acquire information about genetic factors related to clinical disorders; 62% indicated that the public healthcare system should reimburse these tests [14]. It should be noted that the latter survey performed in Canada distinguished genetic tests by the type of information that could be gained from them (e.g., genetic factors related to manageable conditions or serious, unpreventable disease), and specified how much one is willing to pay (in cash brackets), and as such is not directly comparable to our present study.…”

Public reaction to direct-to-consumer online genetic tests: Comparing attitudes, trust and intentions across commercial and conventional providers

“…In the UK (Cherkas et al, 2010) and Canada (Ries, Hyde-Lay and Caulfield, 2010b) it has been found that intention to order a DTC genetic test from a company is also relatively low, but rises if the cost is reduced. Amongst a sample of 4050 UK twins, only 5% were interested in ordering a test at current prices (i.e., £250), but when the sample was informed the test would be free, interest rose to 48% (Cherkas et al, 2010).…”

Points to consider in assessing and appraising predictive genetic tests

“…WTP methods have recently been applied to different types of genetic tests in general (Ries et al 2010) and to genetic tests for unexplained developmental disability (Regier et al 2009). In WTP surveys, individuals trade off the utility they expect to gain from the test in question with the utility from alternative uses of their money.…”

“…The WTP metric allows for a direct comparison with the costs of tests, although this may be difficult to apply in health care because of expectations of third-party payment. A recent Canadian study found that few people were willing to pay the full cost of a molecular genetic test, in part because they felt that this was the responsibility of health payers (Ries et al 2010). WTP can also be estimated through choice experiment (conjoint analysis) surveys in which individuals are asked to trade off among bundles of attributes, including cost and the probability of detection (Regier et al 2009).…”