Willingness to pay for antenatal carrier screening for cystic fibrosis

Abstract

We report on a study of women's willingness to pay (WTP) for a cystic fibrosis carrier test by one or other method of service delivery (disclosure or non-disclosure). The results demonstrate that there was no statistically significant difference in WTP for the methods of testing. Those women who received a negative test result were followed up and asked their WTP for such a result. Values obtained at this stage were 16 per cent higher than those obtained pretest result. Use of prompts, rather than simply asking women to state their WTP, had a statistically significant effect on post-test result values. The opportunity to terminate the pregnancy, if a test proved positive, was important, but was not the only consideration. This demonstrates the importance to women of other benefits of screening.