One roadblock to wider testing is lack of money. BRCA testing is expensive, running around $3,000; Medicaid doesn’t cover the test, nor do most insurance plans. Noted Olopade, “This is an issue of equity and justice. You’re born with your genes. It’s not something you choose.”

Surely genetic testing on those most likely to be affected–any Ashkenazi Jewish women, young black women, and Hispanic women, all with a family history of breast cancer–would be less expensive than the surgery, chemo, and radiation these women would have to undergo if they were diagnosed with cancer. An ounce of prevention…? Unfortunately, this looks instead like just another nail in the coffin of our current health care system.