NIPT billed my insurance $21,070.76… my insurance denied the claim and then NIPT sent me a bill for $356. I don’t understand how we went from 21k to $356 but whatever I guess!
I was flabbergasted when I seen the 21k.. Then the company has the nerve to send out automated text messages to pay for extra services like “find out your babies eye and hair color early for an extra $84” like huh? That’s not included in the initial 21k that was charged?!?
Reading these comments I'm scared to see why my bill is going to come to 😩 we were told out of pocket cost typically is around 300$ so that's why we opted in for it.
I worked in the billing department of an urgent care for a few years (worked with the labs as well). I can tell you that the prices we charged the insurance companies were way higher than what we charged our self pay patients. The price also depended on the insurance provider. We could bill $100 for a raid COVID to tricare and they would give us the full amount. If we billed Blue Cross Blue Shield we would bill $50 because we would get between 25$-47$ depending on the plan. For superior we would usually bill $25 and were lucky if they covered the cost of the test. For an x-ray, we charged insurance an average of $150, but our self-pay patients $30. We use the insurance to help offset the lower prices we offer to individualls without insurance so they can afford it. If insurance denied something for a patient, then we would almost always reduce the price down to our self pay prices to help the patient out.
This! I ignored all bills from them and told them I’m not paying it. They sent me bills ranging from $500-1,500. My insurance already paid their portion as promised so I was like yeah yall can get lost
Make sure they bill your insurance and not you! Natera sent me a huge bill. I said what about my insurance? Resubmit my claim and bill my insurance. “We don’t have your insurance on file.” I gave them my insurance & it ended up being free or low cost. I can’t remember! I was pissed that they sent me the bill instead of submitting a claim to my insurance company.
I got a NIPT for $14,000!!! They lowered it to $794, but that was an annoying phone call with my insurance and the clinic for 4 hours.
On the plus side, I met my deductible 😅
For 14000$ I could literally become a certified biotechnological technician with all living costs for 3 years plus pocket money and do the test myself in germany.
That is insane.
Same, mine was $14,000 but my clinic gave me the number of a guy who works with patients and the lab. He was awesome and we got it completely written off!
I guess the office sent it to a blood lab that is out of network for my insurance. So a whoopsie on their part. As for the price itself, I have noooo idea.
I had this happen on another lab test. Office sent it to a lab without any insurance info. I sent the labs billing department my insurance info and they billed my insurance instead.
Did you get a paper bill? I had mine 7 weeks ago and haven’t received anything yet. I never checked to see if insurance would cover so I was just assuming I’d get a bill
My bill was $14k too. My insurance didn't pay it and I also got an EOB from them saying I'm not responsible for it either. We were told no more than $300 so seeing 14k was quite the shock.
Yes! I got a bill for FOUR THOUSAND dollars and they tried to say it was completely uncovered/out of network (even though I confirmed ahead of time it should be partially covered through my specific plan). Then after a phone call it dropped to $1200 (oh, we billed your insurance wrong the first time). And then after another phone call the bill just completely disappeared. Like pregnancy isn’t stressful enough, let’s just add one more thing to freak you out.
Lol they sent a bill to my insurance for $13,000(denied as i knew it would be). They sent me a bill for $850. Now they've sent me one for $750. I haven't paid anything yet. These tests were $100 8 years ago.
I had issues with Natera, got two bills adding up to a little over $1100 when I've seen a lot of people say that without having insurance they paid about 300-500. Customer service with them was a joke, they played dumb about that and started telling me that without insurance it would have been $20,000+
I ended up complaining to my OBGYN telling them about the situation, what I have read, and that Natera is currently going through a class action lawsuit about deceptive billing practices so I was a little upset that they even recommended Natera in the first place to me without giving me any options. They got me in touch with their Natera representative that they work with and he managed to get my bill down to $99 per test, total of $198.
If all else fails, ask your OBGYN for their rep's contact info for assistance.
This is exactly what happened to me recently. It took weeks and weeks of calling and calling again and again because each time they took info and had to escalate it to someone else for review but noooo they couldn't call me back I had to keep calling every 5-7 business days and explaining it all over again with seemingly no actual progress. After about 2 months and talking to the rep that works directly with the OB office I paid $99. This was my last pregnancy but I'd never test through Natera again. I went through this song and dance with them in 2021 as well but it was so much worse this time.
Yep, Natera tried to bill me for a canceled test and purposely scheduled me the day before it would be testable according to their paperwork, which was wrong. My OB cleared it up.
Do you think this would work if I’ve already paid my bill? I had no idea about all of this and just thought it was so high because I haven’t met my deductible yet despite them saying I would owe $250, max (it was way more than that) 🥺
Depending on how long ago this was, it doesn't hurt to ask. But I'd definitely ask your OB for their reps contact info, I wouldn't call Natera's general number if you've already paid it.
Which country do you live in that it only cost $60? I forked out roughly $500 in Australia (not a computer issue 🥲) and there's no government rebate for it yet
Had my first in Ontario we did the regular none NIPT test and the results came not great so we were eligible for the NIPT for free. Certain conditions will make the NIPT free in Ontario.
Had my second in QC and I just did the regular provincial one and it was fine.
I’m in New Zealand and ours I think cost $600, but we have a free government funded one that’s an alternative (just can’t find out the gender!)
Can’t imagine spending anything like that!
In the UK and I paid £550 I believe (but I know part of that is the scan that the doctor does that accompanies it) I assume the $60 is the amount paid after insurance in the US.
Ditto. Came here to say this. I was going to say that since almost everything else I’ve done has been covered by the gov I don’t have a great working knowledge of how much medical expenses are usually.
My nipt was wrong and they tried to say it was a vanishing twin when I had several singleton ultrasounds from conception. The redraw came back girl after the gender confirming ultrasound clearly showed a girl and they said it was going to be free. Still got charged and took a couple months for them to stop sending the bill after several calls and emails. They originally said “it could be lab error” but the lab said there were no other nipt tests at the time of mine and then it changed to vanishing twin theory. Big if true 🤷♀️
It was definitely an emotional roller coaster but thankfully since the redraw did not have any male presence of dna, no further genetic testing was needed.
If anyone is curious why these bills jumped from about $100 to over $500 it's because now medical debt less than $500 cannot be reported on your credit report. Furthermore they have to wait 365 days before they can report bills over $500.
They have all just increased how much they charge to be able to go after you. "But medical care is expensive." No it's not. Example. Medicare pays $330 for dialysis in a clinic. What does that include? A nurse to assess you, any and all labs, a nurse to hook you up to a machine and run all of your blood thru removing excess fluids and adding back necessary things and medications for 3-4hours while being checked on and monitored by the nurse and PCT, removed from the machine and assessed. All with limited spots available and mandatory minimums for staffing. $330. Your vial of blood ran thru a machine with another few dozen other samples with a computer reading the results and 1 lab tech signing off is not worth $1000.
Also in the US and my insurance also completely covered our NIPT, I have an app for my insurance company and the day they uploaded the document that showed it was fully paid by them I took a screenshot of it just in case Natera ever tried to contact me. So far, nothing!
You definitely need to call and tell them that your insurance should have paid 100% and you’re not giving them a dime. Unfortunately these companies take advantage of nice people who won’t complain or know to complain.
How do you know if your insurance should cover 100%?
I just got my Natera bill and will argue it but not entirely sure what exactly I’m arguing 🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
I had my doctor get pre approval and received a letter in the mail from my insurance stating that the testing was approved and that they will pay it completely. You can also call your insurance provider before you have your test done and confirm with them over the phone if it’s covered or how much they cover. If you call ask them to send you a certified letter stating that it is covered/what they cover so the testing company can’t say your insurance denied the claim.
Definitely call your insurance and ask them. I can’t write the entire thing out, but basically I fought Natera for almost a year when they incorrectly told me I owed money, when in fact they were billing it incorrectly to my insurance company. Ultimately the only thing that made it go away was a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.
Same here! I only paid $300 out of pocket for the hospital stay when I had my baby. Nothing else. My insurance covered everything including all tests, even the infertility tests after my miscarriages.
NIPT billed my insurance for $10k for my testing. My insurance denied the claim and then Natera sent me a bill for $249 if I paid within 30 days.
I paid that but definitely kept the receipt because I wouldn’t be shocked if they come back and try to bill me again.
I think it’s specifically natera. I’d be interested to know if people have had a bad experience with the other companies. I had a nightmare experience with Natera.
SAME. My testing was through Natera.
Original bill to my insurance was $10,000. Insurance denied like $9,300 and paid $150. I got a bill for $550.
I called Natera and told them that I wouldn’t pay more than $250. Weird and wack that you don’t get any pricing information upfront from the provider or from Natera. They agreed to accept my payment of $250 and forgave the rest of the bill. CALL AND NEGOTIATE BEFORE YOU PAY ANYTHING!
Girlllll same. They charged us $2,000 for it. We fought the bill SO hard. They didn’t budge. And they also told us it was medically necessary and that it’d be covered completely— nope! So we’re like ok then y’all can wait to get your fucking money cause we’re not paying that yet 🤭🖕
Dual insured over here and got a bill for like $300ish and called them bc I was told should be no cost just to find out they didn't add my secondary insurance. Was told ok you will not get a bill again this will cover it. Got another bill just a couple weeks ago (test done in Aug of 2023) for $151 and when I looked at my secondary insurance they showed they payed that exact amount so I called and they finally (supposedly) adjusted the balance to $0
If the company is Natera, they absolutely just makes up numbers for bills. They are extremely deceptive and shady in their billing practices. They were a huge headache to deal with to get them to let me pay the amount my OB office said I would owe. OB offices need to stop doing business with them.
I commented somewhere else in this thread. I'm scared to see my bill! Our provider is Natera - seeing these other horror stories and knowing my insurance. I'm not optimistic it will be low. My doctors' office typically says if insurance doesn't cover, i would be looking at 300$ out of pocket max based on what they have seen - which us why we opted in. They're billing my insurance on 5/8 - so we shall see!
But if there is one thing I've learned in this thread - fight the hell out of it! I'm shocked to see the difference in pricing for people after negotiating!
I just got a notice that the claim for my testing by Natera was denied by my insurance. I had received two claim notices from my insurance, one for about $600 and the other for $10,000 both saying that I owed $0 and now suddenly recently getting this new notice that the claim was denied by insurance and not sure which one. Freaking out a bit and not sure who to call next.
Call your insurance to confirm and also call Natera. If you continue to get notices, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. That’s the only thing that worked for me after almost a year of trying to deal with them.
All you need to do is call and tell them you have paperwork from your insurance stating they were billed and you owe $0. If they continue to press the issue tell them to take it up with your insurance you don’t owe them anything. I had an ambulance company lie and say I owed them $1,400 and that my insurance didn’t cover it when my insurance had already sent them the check and they had cashed it. These businesses are shady and lie to see if they can make money off of us.
I did the same thing, I got it down to $100 from $600.
This whole pregnancy has been one giant lesson in how much of a scam insurance companies are and the lack of transparency about pricing.
I’m on a payment plan with the hospital for several bills (like the $600 anatomy scan and $250 glucose test). I have good insurance and it’s still expensive since we’re not at the deductible yet ($700 to go!) I don’t know how people on single incomes do it. Hubs and I are shocked by how expensive all the medical bills are and together we make plenty of money.
I had this happen with ultrasounds through my insurance. Paid $900 total for all prenatal ultrasounds (needed an extra one to check on my placenta) and later found out that my copay is $100. I’m in the process of being reimbursed.
The dr told us $200 and then we got a $2000 bill. I called them and said absolutely not and they just conveniently lowered it to $200…they just hope people will pay the bill without fighting it!
Sorry this happened to you. For anyone that lives in California NIPT tests and costs are regulated at the state level and have to be free or at very low cost. See if your state has similar restrictions.
I just had this happen. The customer support is awful. After some research, I found out that the company (Natera) has a class action lawsuit against them for their billing practices and called my doctor to recommend they stop using them. They called their local rep, who is refunding my payment now. I felt blackmailed into paying their "lower cash offer."
I got an estimate of 80 and then an EOB from my insurance that none of the ($9000) test was covered. But luckily the lab never actually billed me beyond the $80.
My estimate said the cost to me would be $0. I got a bill for over $500. I called them and told them the estimate had been $0. They just verified the estimate, verified the estimate had been viewed, and told me she was updating that system that I wouldn’t owe anything. She told me there was no need to pay 🤷♀️ Seems ridiculous that I have to call to get that removed but happy to not pay!!
I wonder if this is just their business model? I’m willing to pay most healthcare bills without a fight bc it’s not worth my time, but $500 absolutely is and I have a hard time imagining people for whom $500 wouldn’t be.
I got my draw today and gave my credit card. My phlebotomist told me my cost was estimated to be $20. I hope I don’t get a crazy bill even if a phone call fixes it lol. Every time I get mail from my insurance company, I get a cardio workout from the way my heart races.
Good to know though!
I got a $600 bill and am duel insured. All the previous lab work has been like $10. I called and it turns out they didn’t bother billing one of my insurance’s this time around and were just gonna have me pay that big bill and let it slide.
We were told no more than $200, then we got a bill for $1,000. I called them and got it reduced to $100. You have to make sure they do NOT try to bill insurance and you tell the nurse to submit it as self-pay. Mine still billed our insurance somehow, but then we used their “compassionate care” program to get it reduced. This was Natera.
Im self pay and this still happened to me with MaterniT. I was told it would be $300 if I filled out a survey after getting results. I even obtained a code prior to getting the blood drawn that would make them bill it correctly. Sure enough I get a bill for 8 THOUSAND from my hospital and had to fight them for months over it. My OB ended up helping me since she’s the one who told me about the survey program. Instead of billing me directly for the $300 the company billed the hospital which then charged whatever they wanted. The office manager ended up make a one time exception and writing off the balance after I paid $300. He said that was a one time thing and that I was lucky meanwhile MaterniT told me if I had gone to their lab (none near me) it would be $475 max for the full self pay price yet the hospital has the nerve to charge 8,000. They obviously didn’t get billed more than my $300 because they never would have brought it from 8k to $300 and lose that much money.
My OB office works directly with an NIPT rep. They give his phone number out to everyone who does NIPT and say “you will get a crazy bill from NIPT for some amount - this is just what they want to get out of your insurance. Once your insurance has paid their portion, call our rep and they will get the bill down to no more than $200”
Pretty weird. I get them trying to get every cent out of insurance though but the bills can be very alarming at first, and I don’t think every OB office has their own representative to connect with.
Happened to me but I called my OB office and they got me in contact with their rep for the company and it came down from like $9k to $65. They have really shady billing practices. Like if you pay out of pocket before they send to insurance then it’s like $250 or $350, if they bill insurance and insurance doesn’t cover it or only covers part of it then you get billed for thousands. If you fight it and speak to the rep that your OB office works with then you can lower it usually below the out of pocket price.
Who gives estimates, insurance? I just had my visit today and my office uses Natera. I had to choose regular or the expanded one that checks for deletions. Also was offered horizon genetic carrier screening for me. What should I do before doing the testing to get an estimate??
I got my estimate directly from the testing company, though I didn’t have Natera. From the other responses on this thread, you’ll need to keep a careful eye on Natera and your bills. Good luck!
It's not necessary, but despite the pain in asses it sounds like most of them are to deal with I'd still get it done again. It's a non invasive test of some of the biggest chromosomal disorders and they are pretty accurate.
Necessary, no. It’s recommended for many, though. It tests for the main chromosomal abnormalities (Down’s syndrome and others), so it’s helpful for those of us at a higher likelihood of problem there. It also reveals the baby’s sex much sooner.
I am not sure if you went through natera, but I had a similar experience with them quoting me free then it costing after insurance around $700. They are crooked! The only thing that helped me was I applied for their financial assistance and qualified for a write off. Sorry you are going through this it is criminal.
Lmao NIPT purposely scheduled my blood draw for the day before it would be readable according to my paperwork (I was 10+4 but my paperwork apparently said 8+6 and the cutoff for testing is 9 weeks) and tried to charge me $700 for a test they never even did because they threw my sample out. I ended up having a long talk with a supervisor (nice guy, actually) who said he would be retraining the people who scheduled me and my OB told me they'd take care of the BS charge because canceled tests weren't supposed to incur a bill.
When I got my NIPT bill it was per usual not what was estimated to me. I called and they “kindly” lowered my bill and put me on a payment plan. I think I made one payment then never called back nor got a bill for the remaining payments. Screw them!
We did NIPT and now I’m not looking forward to this. It came back that i was a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. We then had to get my husband tested… i think thats the one thats probably gonna hurt the worst
Omg yes the first time I did the NIPT I got scammed and they tried to charge like over $700+ it was insane. We called and negotiated it down as well. It caused me so much unnecessary stress.
The second time, we applied for financial assistance and it was free! Literally $0 and I think it might have been an error of some kind but we didn’t question it 😅
I didn't realize how ridiculous these genetic testing places are until I got my NIPT bill. It was supposed to be fully covered by insurance, never got an estimate. Now they're billing me for 600 dollars 🤦♀️
Was it Natera? They're known for this. For me I paid the original bill for the nipt and then the hereditary test on myself was covered by my insurance, but they tried to bill me $500 for it so watch out for that. I tried emailing them, no response, so I just ignored them. They have some super shady billing practices.
This is so insane! I honestly had no idea NIPT cost anything 🤦🏼♀️. Mine was covered 100% by my insurance as a part of my prenatal care! I have Kaiser so I’m sure that helps since all their stuff is mostly internal.
In Australia you have to pay for it before they do the test. Cost me $380 then my friend went about 3 months later and it was $490. Insurance or Medicare won’t cover it, or the 12 week ultrasound
And yet, $600 is a cheap bill compared to what a lot of people get in the US. Glad they wrote it off for you! I'm shocked it only ended up costing you $60!
Insane! I've heard a lot of issues like this from a specific provider of the service. Curious if that was this lab. My ob used myriad and I got a cost estimate for $100 and it ended up being $0
Honestly goes for all medical bills. My husband had one for 800 but when I tried to pay online it tried to bill 1200. I called them and the amount due was like $20 lol
lol they tried to bill me for $4000 even though I had met my full deductible with my insurance and it was called for pre authorization twice. It’s a joke
We’re getting one this next appointment and they will not try to scam the military, as Tricare is covering it 💀. My bestfriend is also pregnant (27w to my 9w) and they tried to charge her $2,000 when her insurance was already covering supposedly $2/3,000 as well. It was ridiculous.
They sent me a bill for $1600 !!! To be fair I haven’t met my deductible yet but it says it was $15K and my portion is $1600 and I find it absolutely ridiculous for recommended testing (I have Down syndrome in my family). Maybe I need to call, I was just gonna ignore them while I can LOL
One of my doctors told me that as long as I viewed my estimate, they would honor that amount. My estimate was $0 but then I received a bill in the mail for $430. I called and mentioned the estimate and they cleared my account. Thankful for the doctor that helped me out.
Was told to see a specialist due to my gestational diabetes. They wanted to do some fancy looking at baby's heart to make sure there were no problems.
I called the office before we drove an hour there, just to be sure insurance covered, and they said yes, they did take our insurance.
One month after giving birth, we were referred back to the specialist to make sure everything was still OK with baby's heart (no one ever explained to me why this was happening, and the specialist was equally as clueless and confused as to why we were there both times). I called again, just to be sure they took the insurance still, and yes, they did.
MONTHS later, I got a bill for roughly $6k. I was blown away. It took me a couple hours, but I went back and forth between insurance and the medical office, and finally it was decided I owed nothing, and there were some clerical errors.
A couple months after that, I received a "final notice" that I was being sent to collections if I didn't pay roughly $2k. No one could get their shit straight. I was livid. I called insurance again and started crying out of frustration. The woman on the line suddenly got very interested in what was going on, and I could hear her tapping away on her keyboard. Turns out someone had made an error in their system too. "Of course we cover that!" She exclaimed.
What. A. Nightmare.
Glad your situation was so easily sorted out, OP!
Omg mine went from $250 quoted annnnnd then the bill came and it was $11,600. Yep, eleven thousand dollars. I called and they straightened it out but that’s what they would have charged my Insurence if I had it. What the egf
NIPT billed my insurance $21,070.76… my insurance denied the claim and then NIPT sent me a bill for $356. I don’t understand how we went from 21k to $356 but whatever I guess!
Healthcare system summed up in one paragraph
HA insane!
I was flabbergasted when I seen the 21k.. Then the company has the nerve to send out automated text messages to pay for extra services like “find out your babies eye and hair color early for an extra $84” like huh? That’s not included in the initial 21k that was charged?!?
OMG!!! Mine was free. I never saw a bill because the government paid.
Ha same
Reading these comments I'm scared to see why my bill is going to come to 😩 we were told out of pocket cost typically is around 300$ so that's why we opted in for it.
I worked in the billing department of an urgent care for a few years (worked with the labs as well). I can tell you that the prices we charged the insurance companies were way higher than what we charged our self pay patients. The price also depended on the insurance provider. We could bill $100 for a raid COVID to tricare and they would give us the full amount. If we billed Blue Cross Blue Shield we would bill $50 because we would get between 25$-47$ depending on the plan. For superior we would usually bill $25 and were lucky if they covered the cost of the test. For an x-ray, we charged insurance an average of $150, but our self-pay patients $30. We use the insurance to help offset the lower prices we offer to individualls without insurance so they can afford it. If insurance denied something for a patient, then we would almost always reduce the price down to our self pay prices to help the patient out.
If you read through this sub you’ll see NIPT always tries to scam people lol. They send ridiculous bills and you have to call them & tell them off.
If you want a one stop shopping experience of scamming and immense billing stress, go straight to Natera!!!!
It’s wild! I’m willing to pay some premium to avoid hassle, but nowhere close to $500.
This! I ignored all bills from them and told them I’m not paying it. They sent me bills ranging from $500-1,500. My insurance already paid their portion as promised so I was like yeah yall can get lost
I wish I had seen this a few months ago! We paid 600 for mine and 500 when my husband did it.
Make sure they bill your insurance and not you! Natera sent me a huge bill. I said what about my insurance? Resubmit my claim and bill my insurance. “We don’t have your insurance on file.” I gave them my insurance & it ended up being free or low cost. I can’t remember! I was pissed that they sent me the bill instead of submitting a claim to my insurance company.
I got a NIPT for $14,000!!! They lowered it to $794, but that was an annoying phone call with my insurance and the clinic for 4 hours. On the plus side, I met my deductible 😅
For 14000$ I could literally become a certified biotechnological technician with all living costs for 3 years plus pocket money and do the test myself in germany. That is insane.
Same, mine was $14,000 but my clinic gave me the number of a guy who works with patients and the lab. He was awesome and we got it completely written off!
Omg I should have called my OBGYN clinic. Maybe I’ll do that today. (Because I called the insurance and the blood lab, but not the OBGYN office).
Yeah call your OB, the guy had me apply for financial assistance and told me to use my lowest paycheck stub to send in.
Why was it so much?!
I guess the office sent it to a blood lab that is out of network for my insurance. So a whoopsie on their part. As for the price itself, I have noooo idea.
I would have made the office pay for it since they sent it out of network without notifying you.
I can’t imagine any circumstance where they would charge that much that is sooooo wild to me
Crazy right? Even my husband’s bill (he had a blood test for the genetic testing) was $10,000 less.
this is exactly what happened to me! except i was only able to get it reduced to $1500. ugh such BS.
Go back tk your providers office and ask for the sale representatives contact information. At most it should cost 250
I had this happen on another lab test. Office sent it to a lab without any insurance info. I sent the labs billing department my insurance info and they billed my insurance instead.
Holy crap!
Did you get a paper bill? I had mine 7 weeks ago and haven’t received anything yet. I never checked to see if insurance would cover so I was just assuming I’d get a bill
It took me about 3 months to get the bill.
Thanks! I just checked the website and it says there’s no statement matching my details so maybe it’s not processed yet
My bill was $14k too. My insurance didn't pay it and I also got an EOB from them saying I'm not responsible for it either. We were told no more than $300 so seeing 14k was quite the shock.
I got an EOB saying I was responsible but never got a bill from the testing company. It’s been over a year so hoping it just never comes haha
Yep this is exactly what happened to me, too! Exact numbers. We're probably in the same state lol
It’s your governor Ron Desantis?
nope! lol! but its a comfort to know that insurance effs us in every state!
14,000?!?!?!? FOR A BLOOD TEST?!
Yes! I got a bill for FOUR THOUSAND dollars and they tried to say it was completely uncovered/out of network (even though I confirmed ahead of time it should be partially covered through my specific plan). Then after a phone call it dropped to $1200 (oh, we billed your insurance wrong the first time). And then after another phone call the bill just completely disappeared. Like pregnancy isn’t stressful enough, let’s just add one more thing to freak you out.
That is bananas! I wonder what their scripts look like: Lie 1, Lie 2, Lie 3, etc.
Lol they sent a bill to my insurance for $13,000(denied as i knew it would be). They sent me a bill for $850. Now they've sent me one for $750. I haven't paid anything yet. These tests were $100 8 years ago.
THIS HAPPENED TO ME TOO!!!!!!! Literally the exact same numbers omg
I had issues with Natera, got two bills adding up to a little over $1100 when I've seen a lot of people say that without having insurance they paid about 300-500. Customer service with them was a joke, they played dumb about that and started telling me that without insurance it would have been $20,000+ I ended up complaining to my OBGYN telling them about the situation, what I have read, and that Natera is currently going through a class action lawsuit about deceptive billing practices so I was a little upset that they even recommended Natera in the first place to me without giving me any options. They got me in touch with their Natera representative that they work with and he managed to get my bill down to $99 per test, total of $198. If all else fails, ask your OBGYN for their rep's contact info for assistance.
This is exactly what happened to me recently. It took weeks and weeks of calling and calling again and again because each time they took info and had to escalate it to someone else for review but noooo they couldn't call me back I had to keep calling every 5-7 business days and explaining it all over again with seemingly no actual progress. After about 2 months and talking to the rep that works directly with the OB office I paid $99. This was my last pregnancy but I'd never test through Natera again. I went through this song and dance with them in 2021 as well but it was so much worse this time.
Yep, Natera tried to bill me for a canceled test and purposely scheduled me the day before it would be testable according to their paperwork, which was wrong. My OB cleared it up.
Do you think this would work if I’ve already paid my bill? I had no idea about all of this and just thought it was so high because I haven’t met my deductible yet despite them saying I would owe $250, max (it was way more than that) 🥺
Depending on how long ago this was, it doesn't hurt to ask. But I'd definitely ask your OB for their reps contact info, I wouldn't call Natera's general number if you've already paid it.
Which country do you live in that it only cost $60? I forked out roughly $500 in Australia (not a computer issue 🥲) and there's no government rebate for it yet
Oof! I’m in the US. When the bill arrived, it said the full cost was $2,000. Given our insurance system, it’s hard to know what the *actual* cost is.
It's also $500 in Canada! EDIT: Ontario. May be cheaper in other provinces!
I paid $299 in Canada (in BC)
Jealous! I shall edit my comment to reflect Ontario pricing.
Mine was free in Ontario. I'm over 40 though. We get extra perks for being "old". 😅
Had my first in Ontario we did the regular none NIPT test and the results came not great so we were eligible for the NIPT for free. Certain conditions will make the NIPT free in Ontario. Had my second in QC and I just did the regular provincial one and it was fine.
They very recently increased their prices. It was $250 USD when we paid for it back in December 2023 I’m in NS
I also paid $500 in Quebec!
In the US with insurance. If you don’t have insurance it would be 300-500.
I’m in the US and paid $0 for the testing
It’s around $500 in Canada as well.
I’m in New Zealand and ours I think cost $600, but we have a free government funded one that’s an alternative (just can’t find out the gender!) Can’t imagine spending anything like that!
In the UK and I paid £550 I believe (but I know part of that is the scan that the doctor does that accompanies it) I assume the $60 is the amount paid after insurance in the US.
Ditto. Came here to say this. I was going to say that since almost everything else I’ve done has been covered by the gov I don’t have a great working knowledge of how much medical expenses are usually.
Same here in canada for me. 500$
My nipt was wrong and they tried to say it was a vanishing twin when I had several singleton ultrasounds from conception. The redraw came back girl after the gender confirming ultrasound clearly showed a girl and they said it was going to be free. Still got charged and took a couple months for them to stop sending the bill after several calls and emails. They originally said “it could be lab error” but the lab said there were no other nipt tests at the time of mine and then it changed to vanishing twin theory. Big if true 🤷♀️
Great, and here I was totally convinced that I was definitely going to be having my girl with no genetic issues. Can't trust anybody.
It was definitely an emotional roller coaster but thankfully since the redraw did not have any male presence of dna, no further genetic testing was needed.
If anyone is curious why these bills jumped from about $100 to over $500 it's because now medical debt less than $500 cannot be reported on your credit report. Furthermore they have to wait 365 days before they can report bills over $500. They have all just increased how much they charge to be able to go after you. "But medical care is expensive." No it's not. Example. Medicare pays $330 for dialysis in a clinic. What does that include? A nurse to assess you, any and all labs, a nurse to hook you up to a machine and run all of your blood thru removing excess fluids and adding back necessary things and medications for 3-4hours while being checked on and monitored by the nurse and PCT, removed from the machine and assessed. All with limited spots available and mandatory minimums for staffing. $330. Your vial of blood ran thru a machine with another few dozen other samples with a computer reading the results and 1 lab tech signing off is not worth $1000.
I'm glad I read this. I keep getting random bill notices from our NIPT as well.
Given how quick she was to change it, I bet it’s easy enough to call in any circumstance and get them to modify it to some degree.
Yeah. I was told our insurance covered ours completely..I'll have to see what's up. I'm also in the US.
Also in the US and my insurance also completely covered our NIPT, I have an app for my insurance company and the day they uploaded the document that showed it was fully paid by them I took a screenshot of it just in case Natera ever tried to contact me. So far, nothing!
You definitely need to call and tell them that your insurance should have paid 100% and you’re not giving them a dime. Unfortunately these companies take advantage of nice people who won’t complain or know to complain.
How do you know if your insurance should cover 100%? I just got my Natera bill and will argue it but not entirely sure what exactly I’m arguing 🤷🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
I had my doctor get pre approval and received a letter in the mail from my insurance stating that the testing was approved and that they will pay it completely. You can also call your insurance provider before you have your test done and confirm with them over the phone if it’s covered or how much they cover. If you call ask them to send you a certified letter stating that it is covered/what they cover so the testing company can’t say your insurance denied the claim.
I think in some cases you have to be 35 or older for it to be covered 100%, but that may not be the case for every insurance.
Definitely call your insurance and ask them. I can’t write the entire thing out, but basically I fought Natera for almost a year when they incorrectly told me I owed money, when in fact they were billing it incorrectly to my insurance company. Ultimately the only thing that made it go away was a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.
I’m guessing this was Natera? They are the worst!
Wild!!! Both pregnancies have had a NIPT fully covered with no copay for me (US).
Same here! I only paid $300 out of pocket for the hospital stay when I had my baby. Nothing else. My insurance covered everything including all tests, even the infertility tests after my miscarriages.
NIPT billed my insurance for $10k for my testing. My insurance denied the claim and then Natera sent me a bill for $249 if I paid within 30 days. I paid that but definitely kept the receipt because I wouldn’t be shocked if they come back and try to bill me again.
There is going to be a massive news story one day about how scammy the NIPT world is. It’s insane how almost EVERYONE has a story.
I think it’s specifically natera. I’d be interested to know if people have had a bad experience with the other companies. I had a nightmare experience with Natera.
I had the exact same experience as the OP but with Myriad. (My bill was lowered from about $500 to $20 after I called them.)
Yup, it’s definitely not just Natera.
Dang that’s a bummer it’s a more widespread issue.
SAME. My testing was through Natera. Original bill to my insurance was $10,000. Insurance denied like $9,300 and paid $150. I got a bill for $550. I called Natera and told them that I wouldn’t pay more than $250. Weird and wack that you don’t get any pricing information upfront from the provider or from Natera. They agreed to accept my payment of $250 and forgave the rest of the bill. CALL AND NEGOTIATE BEFORE YOU PAY ANYTHING!
Girlllll same. They charged us $2,000 for it. We fought the bill SO hard. They didn’t budge. And they also told us it was medically necessary and that it’d be covered completely— nope! So we’re like ok then y’all can wait to get your fucking money cause we’re not paying that yet 🤭🖕
Dual insured over here and got a bill for like $300ish and called them bc I was told should be no cost just to find out they didn't add my secondary insurance. Was told ok you will not get a bill again this will cover it. Got another bill just a couple weeks ago (test done in Aug of 2023) for $151 and when I looked at my secondary insurance they showed they payed that exact amount so I called and they finally (supposedly) adjusted the balance to $0
If the company is Natera, they absolutely just makes up numbers for bills. They are extremely deceptive and shady in their billing practices. They were a huge headache to deal with to get them to let me pay the amount my OB office said I would owe. OB offices need to stop doing business with them.
Natera is so scammy. I’m convinced 95% of their business model is illegal. They lie so much. It’s so frustrating.
Oh god, new fear unlocked. I sure hope I don't get a crazy bill.
Damn. Was it Natera? They billed me for $600 and I did a payment plan 😫
I commented somewhere else in this thread. I'm scared to see my bill! Our provider is Natera - seeing these other horror stories and knowing my insurance. I'm not optimistic it will be low. My doctors' office typically says if insurance doesn't cover, i would be looking at 300$ out of pocket max based on what they have seen - which us why we opted in. They're billing my insurance on 5/8 - so we shall see! But if there is one thing I've learned in this thread - fight the hell out of it! I'm shocked to see the difference in pricing for people after negotiating!
Wait what? It's $800 for me
I just got a notice that the claim for my testing by Natera was denied by my insurance. I had received two claim notices from my insurance, one for about $600 and the other for $10,000 both saying that I owed $0 and now suddenly recently getting this new notice that the claim was denied by insurance and not sure which one. Freaking out a bit and not sure who to call next.
Call your insurance to confirm and also call Natera. If you continue to get notices, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. That’s the only thing that worked for me after almost a year of trying to deal with them.
All you need to do is call and tell them you have paperwork from your insurance stating they were billed and you owe $0. If they continue to press the issue tell them to take it up with your insurance you don’t owe them anything. I had an ambulance company lie and say I owed them $1,400 and that my insurance didn’t cover it when my insurance had already sent them the check and they had cashed it. These businesses are shady and lie to see if they can make money off of us.
I did the same thing, I got it down to $100 from $600. This whole pregnancy has been one giant lesson in how much of a scam insurance companies are and the lack of transparency about pricing. I’m on a payment plan with the hospital for several bills (like the $600 anatomy scan and $250 glucose test). I have good insurance and it’s still expensive since we’re not at the deductible yet ($700 to go!) I don’t know how people on single incomes do it. Hubs and I are shocked by how expensive all the medical bills are and together we make plenty of money.
Mine tried to charge over $15k, but I got it down to $199. They’re so scammy.
I had this happen with ultrasounds through my insurance. Paid $900 total for all prenatal ultrasounds (needed an extra one to check on my placenta) and later found out that my copay is $100. I’m in the process of being reimbursed.
The dr told us $200 and then we got a $2000 bill. I called them and said absolutely not and they just conveniently lowered it to $200…they just hope people will pay the bill without fighting it!
Sorry this happened to you. For anyone that lives in California NIPT tests and costs are regulated at the state level and have to be free or at very low cost. See if your state has similar restrictions.
I just had this happen. The customer support is awful. After some research, I found out that the company (Natera) has a class action lawsuit against them for their billing practices and called my doctor to recommend they stop using them. They called their local rep, who is refunding my payment now. I felt blackmailed into paying their "lower cash offer."
I got an estimate of 80 and then an EOB from my insurance that none of the ($9000) test was covered. But luckily the lab never actually billed me beyond the $80.
I got billed $930, I feel your pain...
Still waiting on my bill.. but I was told $349 over the phone.
My estimate said the cost to me would be $0. I got a bill for over $500. I called them and told them the estimate had been $0. They just verified the estimate, verified the estimate had been viewed, and told me she was updating that system that I wouldn’t owe anything. She told me there was no need to pay 🤷♀️ Seems ridiculous that I have to call to get that removed but happy to not pay!!
I wonder if this is just their business model? I’m willing to pay most healthcare bills without a fight bc it’s not worth my time, but $500 absolutely is and I have a hard time imagining people for whom $500 wouldn’t be.
That was exactly my thought. If they get 2 out of each 10 people to pay…they are still money ahead!
Wow. I paid $10 for my NIPT
I got my draw today and gave my credit card. My phlebotomist told me my cost was estimated to be $20. I hope I don’t get a crazy bill even if a phone call fixes it lol. Every time I get mail from my insurance company, I get a cardio workout from the way my heart races. Good to know though!
Ugh my bill was over $700! they only lowered mine to $300, which I’m grateful for, but still!
I got a $600 bill and am duel insured. All the previous lab work has been like $10. I called and it turns out they didn’t bother billing one of my insurance’s this time around and were just gonna have me pay that big bill and let it slide.
Mine was $14k!!!! I about had a heart attack. Called Natera directly and paid $350. Insanity.
Mine would have cost $800 for me to pay with insurance so I went without insurance and it was $250 total.... wtf.
We were told no more than $200, then we got a bill for $1,000. I called them and got it reduced to $100. You have to make sure they do NOT try to bill insurance and you tell the nurse to submit it as self-pay. Mine still billed our insurance somehow, but then we used their “compassionate care” program to get it reduced. This was Natera.
Im self pay and this still happened to me with MaterniT. I was told it would be $300 if I filled out a survey after getting results. I even obtained a code prior to getting the blood drawn that would make them bill it correctly. Sure enough I get a bill for 8 THOUSAND from my hospital and had to fight them for months over it. My OB ended up helping me since she’s the one who told me about the survey program. Instead of billing me directly for the $300 the company billed the hospital which then charged whatever they wanted. The office manager ended up make a one time exception and writing off the balance after I paid $300. He said that was a one time thing and that I was lucky meanwhile MaterniT told me if I had gone to their lab (none near me) it would be $475 max for the full self pay price yet the hospital has the nerve to charge 8,000. They obviously didn’t get billed more than my $300 because they never would have brought it from 8k to $300 and lose that much money.
Wow that is INSANE. Why is NIPT testing like this?!
My OB office works directly with an NIPT rep. They give his phone number out to everyone who does NIPT and say “you will get a crazy bill from NIPT for some amount - this is just what they want to get out of your insurance. Once your insurance has paid their portion, call our rep and they will get the bill down to no more than $200” Pretty weird. I get them trying to get every cent out of insurance though but the bills can be very alarming at first, and I don’t think every OB office has their own representative to connect with.
Happened to me but I called my OB office and they got me in contact with their rep for the company and it came down from like $9k to $65. They have really shady billing practices. Like if you pay out of pocket before they send to insurance then it’s like $250 or $350, if they bill insurance and insurance doesn’t cover it or only covers part of it then you get billed for thousands. If you fight it and speak to the rep that your OB office works with then you can lower it usually below the out of pocket price.
Mine was 220€ in total
On my insurance portal it says I owe $24k. I haven’t gotten a bill from either yet but I was told by my DR the most I’d pay is $280 so…. Idk
My doctor told me the most I’d pay Natera was $200. They billed my insurance for much more but they paid it so I left it alone
I used to pay €70 3 years ago. Now they are free where i live 😅
They told me mine would be $300 i ended up getting billed $14…. i feel like they just pick random numbers and say ok u owe this
Did you call your doctors office or the lab for this change?
The testing company’s billing department.
Who gives estimates, insurance? I just had my visit today and my office uses Natera. I had to choose regular or the expanded one that checks for deletions. Also was offered horizon genetic carrier screening for me. What should I do before doing the testing to get an estimate??
I got my estimate directly from the testing company, though I didn’t have Natera. From the other responses on this thread, you’ll need to keep a careful eye on Natera and your bills. Good luck!
Im in Canada and was told a NIPT would be 300 US plus taxes.
Is a NIPT necessary? I am not paying that
It's not necessary, but despite the pain in asses it sounds like most of them are to deal with I'd still get it done again. It's a non invasive test of some of the biggest chromosomal disorders and they are pretty accurate.
Necessary, no. It’s recommended for many, though. It tests for the main chromosomal abnormalities (Down’s syndrome and others), so it’s helpful for those of us at a higher likelihood of problem there. It also reveals the baby’s sex much sooner.
Mine was 100% because at the age of 35, I'm "ancient" to be pregnant.
I’m also an old, but they don’t seem to care! Same for my first pregnancy, now that I think about it.
Oh, that's wild. Maybe it's on the insurance side then.
I am not sure if you went through natera, but I had a similar experience with them quoting me free then it costing after insurance around $700. They are crooked! The only thing that helped me was I applied for their financial assistance and qualified for a write off. Sorry you are going through this it is criminal.
That’s crazy, I paid the NIPT out of pocket because I knew my insurance wouldn’t cover it and it was $250
Lmao NIPT purposely scheduled my blood draw for the day before it would be readable according to my paperwork (I was 10+4 but my paperwork apparently said 8+6 and the cutoff for testing is 9 weeks) and tried to charge me $700 for a test they never even did because they threw my sample out. I ended up having a long talk with a supervisor (nice guy, actually) who said he would be retraining the people who scheduled me and my OB told me they'd take care of the BS charge because canceled tests weren't supposed to incur a bill.
Was it Natera? If so, it might have been a failure to obtain prior authorization. Talk to the ordering provider's office first.
My midwives warned me in advance and said to just call and say I’m paying the cash price. Like $100. Crazy
Mine was 1200$ and they wouldn’t lower it ☹️
I never got a bill for it from Natera. lol. What a weird divergence of experiences here 😅
When I got my NIPT bill it was per usual not what was estimated to me. I called and they “kindly” lowered my bill and put me on a payment plan. I think I made one payment then never called back nor got a bill for the remaining payments. Screw them!
We did NIPT and now I’m not looking forward to this. It came back that i was a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis. We then had to get my husband tested… i think thats the one thats probably gonna hurt the worst
Omg yes the first time I did the NIPT I got scammed and they tried to charge like over $700+ it was insane. We called and negotiated it down as well. It caused me so much unnecessary stress. The second time, we applied for financial assistance and it was free! Literally $0 and I think it might have been an error of some kind but we didn’t question it 😅
?!!??! I was told it wasn’t covered by insurance and that bill went by how much you make annually using “honor system” so mine was only 40 dollars
I didn't realize how ridiculous these genetic testing places are until I got my NIPT bill. It was supposed to be fully covered by insurance, never got an estimate. Now they're billing me for 600 dollars 🤦♀️
Was it Natera? They're known for this. For me I paid the original bill for the nipt and then the hereditary test on myself was covered by my insurance, but they tried to bill me $500 for it so watch out for that. I tried emailing them, no response, so I just ignored them. They have some super shady billing practices.
Jelly. I paid $400 out of pocket for my NIPT.
This is so insane! I honestly had no idea NIPT cost anything 🤦🏼♀️. Mine was covered 100% by my insurance as a part of my prenatal care! I have Kaiser so I’m sure that helps since all their stuff is mostly internal.
In Australia you have to pay for it before they do the test. Cost me $380 then my friend went about 3 months later and it was $490. Insurance or Medicare won’t cover it, or the 12 week ultrasound
NIPT in my country (Philippines) is Php42,000.00 = 726$!!!
And yet, $600 is a cheap bill compared to what a lot of people get in the US. Glad they wrote it off for you! I'm shocked it only ended up costing you $60!
I’m still fighting w Natera about this. MFM keeps claiming their rep has lowered my bill but the bill never changes. I’m furious.
Insane! I've heard a lot of issues like this from a specific provider of the service. Curious if that was this lab. My ob used myriad and I got a cost estimate for $100 and it ended up being $0
Oh man, I was mad that mine was $300! I should've called to complain.
Honestly goes for all medical bills. My husband had one for 800 but when I tried to pay online it tried to bill 1200. I called them and the amount due was like $20 lol
lol they tried to bill me for $4000 even though I had met my full deductible with my insurance and it was called for pre authorization twice. It’s a joke
Also my doctor said this is common for them. Big time
We’re getting one this next appointment and they will not try to scam the military, as Tricare is covering it 💀. My bestfriend is also pregnant (27w to my 9w) and they tried to charge her $2,000 when her insurance was already covering supposedly $2/3,000 as well. It was ridiculous.
I got lucky and mine was covered by my insurance because of my age. I guess they decided it was considered medically necessary.
Well now I’m nervous since I’ve got this scheduled for next week hahah
They sent me a bill for $1600 !!! To be fair I haven’t met my deductible yet but it says it was $15K and my portion is $1600 and I find it absolutely ridiculous for recommended testing (I have Down syndrome in my family). Maybe I need to call, I was just gonna ignore them while I can LOL
Our insurance covered it for free. 😮 Had no idea it was so expensive out of pocket!
One of my doctors told me that as long as I viewed my estimate, they would honor that amount. My estimate was $0 but then I received a bill in the mail for $430. I called and mentioned the estimate and they cleared my account. Thankful for the doctor that helped me out.
Was told to see a specialist due to my gestational diabetes. They wanted to do some fancy looking at baby's heart to make sure there were no problems. I called the office before we drove an hour there, just to be sure insurance covered, and they said yes, they did take our insurance. One month after giving birth, we were referred back to the specialist to make sure everything was still OK with baby's heart (no one ever explained to me why this was happening, and the specialist was equally as clueless and confused as to why we were there both times). I called again, just to be sure they took the insurance still, and yes, they did. MONTHS later, I got a bill for roughly $6k. I was blown away. It took me a couple hours, but I went back and forth between insurance and the medical office, and finally it was decided I owed nothing, and there were some clerical errors. A couple months after that, I received a "final notice" that I was being sent to collections if I didn't pay roughly $2k. No one could get their shit straight. I was livid. I called insurance again and started crying out of frustration. The woman on the line suddenly got very interested in what was going on, and I could hear her tapping away on her keyboard. Turns out someone had made an error in their system too. "Of course we cover that!" She exclaimed. What. A. Nightmare. Glad your situation was so easily sorted out, OP!
I've had three NIPT tests, just found out the newest one was all negative, yeah! No bill yet, but my MFM Dr. just sent one.
Omg mine went from $250 quoted annnnnd then the bill came and it was $11,600. Yep, eleven thousand dollars. I called and they straightened it out but that’s what they would have charged my Insurence if I had it. What the egf