What We’re Reading: Millions of Dollars for Cancer Moonshot; e-Communication Fees; Health Coverage Increases

Cancer Moonshot Initiative Gains $240M

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden discussed new actions federal agencies are taking to progress the mission of the White House Cancer Moonshot, according to whitehouse.gov. The White House announced a $240 million investment with a heap of new health resources to progress the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative, reported NBC News. The money was awarded through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, and will go to researchers working towards cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survival projects.

Fees for e-Communication

An increasing number of health systems around America have started charging patients when physicians and other clinicians send replies to their online messages, or e-visits, according to KFF Health News. Some health systems that have implemented this practice are the Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and more. This e-visit billing can get complicated by raising questions about the balance between fairly paying providers for their time and improving patients’ care access. This concern is especially strong for those who are lower-income and/or whose health conditions make it difficult to see providers in person. A significant motivation for this billing is to reduce messaging that providers spend extra time responding to.

Health Insurance Increased in Over 50% of US States

One-year estimates by the American Community Survey found 27 states possessed a higher percentage of people with health insurance coverage in 2022 than in 2021, reported census.gov. Maine was the only state where the uninsured rate increased up to 6.6% in 2022 from 5.7% for people without health insurance. Uninsured rates at the state level ranged from 2.4% in Massachusetts to 16.6% in Texas in 2022. The District of Columbia was among the lowest with an uninsured rate of 2.9% and not statistically differing from Massachusetts.