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.