Stand Up for APA Launches Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) Coverage Scorecard for Fortune 100 Companies, Urges CEOs to Ensure their Employee Health Plans Cover NIPT

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 24, 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 options, today announced the launch of a new online Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) Coverage Scorecard, and that letters have been sent to the CEOs of Fortune 100 companies that use UnitedHealthcare and Aetna for their employee health insurance, informing them that their providers do not provide unrestricted NIPT coverage for all pregnant women. UnitedHealthcare and Aetna are the remaining two major health insurance companies that still fail to provide unrestricted NIPT coverage for all women, as recommended by the professional medical society guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM).

"While many large companies provide excellent maternal benefits for its employees, they must also recognize the importance of ensuring access is available to the best prenatal care, including unrestricted coverage of NIPT," said Brianna Wetherbe, Director and Board Member of Stand Up for APA.

Stand Up for APA's newly launched online scorecard rates Fortune 100 companies into one of three categories:

• Companies with employee health insurance coverage offering unrestricted access to NIPT for all women.
• Companies publicly pressing their employee health insurance provider to begin offering coverage with unrestricted access to NIPT for all women.
• Companies without unrestricted NIPT coverage for all women and that have not publicly committed to changing it.

"UnitedHealthcare and Aetna remain outliers and refuse to follow the recommended guidelines outlined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) that endorse unrestricted NIPT coverage for all pregnant women," said Wetherbe. "To be a company that truly supports their female employees, it must provide all their female employees with the best available prenatal and maternal healthcare options, which is why we are urging the CEOS of companies that use Aetna or UnitedHealthcare for their health insurance to reach out to the insurers and insist them to fully and permanently cover NIPT for all pregnant women. The health and wellbeing of female employees at these companies depend on it."

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.

SOURCE Stand Up for APA