Genetic Testing Costs and Personalized Medicine Accessibility

Dr. Sepideh Moayed is a board-certified radiologist and founder of Preventative Medicine, Inc., a practice that offers weight, behavioral, and preventative health options alongside primary care. With the aid of various diagnostic metrics including individualized genetic testing, Dr. Sepideh Moayed provides personalized medicine for her patients. Personalized medicine can cover a broad scope of services. Still, most practitioners levy genetic information to create a more effective treatment plan for an individual than a general approach would yield. While recent advancements in understanding the human genome have laid the groundwork for personalized medicine to flourish, experts and observers alike have voiced concerns regarding the practice’s availability to all patients. One of the most common issues being the cost of the genetic testing personalized medicine relies on. As a relatively new part of the medical industry, the price and quality of genetic testing can vary widely. Insurance companies might foot the bill, but a number of them only do so when patients display symptoms of specific conditions, limiting the potential of personalized medicine as a preventative care option. To bring personalized medicine to more patients and nudge along its development, public and private entities can align themselves with initiatives to streamline genetic testing methods and press for wider coverage for personalized medicine in insurance plans. Dr. Moayed empowers her patients by reminding them that tremendous amount of information can be gained by these personalized genetic tests but they can rest assured that the true “power” lies in their empowerment of knowing their behaviors and lifestyle choices are the true modifiers. Lifestyle choices can modify cellular morphology, function and biochemistry through methylation, acetylation, glucuronidation as well as endless other processes. She reminds us of the commonly quoted phrase “genetics loads the gun but lifestyle and exposome pull the trigger”. “Patients can obtain important knowledge from their genetics but it’s by modifying their behavior/lifestyle, that they can truly influence their health outcomes. “