{"id":210180,"date":"2025-06-24T10:54:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T10:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/210180\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T10:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T10:54:25","slug":"genetic-tests-for-autism-intellectual-disability-not-being-done-on-medicaid-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/210180\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetic Tests For Autism, Intellectual Disability Not Being Done On Medicaid Kids |"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                                <strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Few kids with autism or intellectual disability covered by public insurance receive recommended genetic testing<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Fewer than 1 in 5 kids covered by Medicaid received such testing<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The tests can help determine their future care and flag other health risks<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>MONDAY, June 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 Few poor children with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthday.com\/a-to-z-health\/child-health\/how-is-autism-diagnosed-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">autism<\/a> or intellectual disability are receiving recommended genetic testing, even though guidelines urge such tests, a new study says.<\/p>\n<p>Fewer than 1 in 5 such kids covered by Medicaid received such testing, which can help guide their futures, researchers reported June 18 in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gimjournal.org\/article\/S1098-3600(25)00098-X\/fulltext\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Genetics in Medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenetic testing can offer valuable insights for diagnosis and care planning,\u201d said lead researcher <a href=\"https:\/\/uclancsp.med.ucla.edu\/people\/tashalee-brown-md-phd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Tashalee Brown<\/a>, a postdoctoral fellow with the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut our findings show a major gap between what\u2019s recommended and what\u2019s actually happening in clinical practice among children who receive health insurance through Medicaid,\u201d Brown said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Genetic testing can help identify the cause of a child\u2019s autism or intellectual disability, and also can flag other illnesses linked to these genetic variants, according to Autism Speaks.<\/p>\n<p>For the study, researchers analyzed claims data for more than 240,000 children 7 to 17 enrolled in either Medicaid or the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program from 2008 to 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Genetic testing rates were highest among children with both autism and intellectual disabilities, reaching 26%.<\/p>\n<p>But they were just 17% for kids with autism and 13% for those with intellectual disability, results show.<\/p>\n<p>Rates remained low even as newer and less expensive genetic testing methods gained traction after 2013, researchers noted.<\/p>\n<p>The study also found that Black children were less likely to receive genetic testing compared with white kids.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Diagnosing children with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and intellectual disability can be a lengthy and frustrating process for families,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/rarediseases.ucla.edu\/our-team\/julian-martinez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Julian Martinez<\/a>, director of the Autism Genetics Clinic at UCLA, said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Genetic testing provides crucial information that can end this search for many families, potentially identifying specific diagnoses, informing treatment approaches, and connecting families with appropriate support services,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cThese findings highlight the urgent need to address systemic barriers that prevent equitable access to these recommended diagnostic tools.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>More information<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Autism Speaks has more on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autismspeaks.org\/expert-opinion\/genetic-testing-autism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">genetic testing for autism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>SOURCE: UCLA, news release, June 18, 2025<\/p>\n<p><strong>What This Means For You<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parents of children with autism or an intellectual disability should ask their doctor about genetic screening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Takeaways Few kids with autism or intellectual disability covered by public insurance receive recommended genetic testing Fewer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[46974,17505,267,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-210180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-child-health","9":"tag-consumer-news","10":"tag-genetics","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114737975482699323","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}