Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Cancer Screenings In The US Cost Roughly $43B A Year, Study Shows
The United States spent $43 billion annually on screening to prevent five cancers, according to one of the most comprehensive estimates of medically recommended cancer testing ever produced. The analysis, published on Monday in The Annals of Internal Medicine and based on data for the year 2021, shows that cancer screening makes up a substantial proportion of what is spent every year on cancer in the United States, which most likely exceeds $250 billion. The researchers focused their estimate on breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancers, and found that more than 88 percent of screening was paid for by private insurance and the rest mostly by government programs. (Kolata, 8/5)
More on the high cost of health care —
Members of Congress headed home for the summer over the weekend, leaving the healthcare community in an all-too-familiar position: Wondering how key priorities will turn out after lawmakers failed to address them in the first part off the year. At the top of the list is money, with billions of dollars in cuts to physician pay and safety net hospitals funding set to begin in January, as well as appropriations for expiring programs such as community health centers. (McAuliff, 8/5)
Extensive training requirements and lower wages lead healthcare professionals to accrue more debt than other workers, according to a recent analysis published in JAMA Health Forum. The study, which used 2018 through 2021 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, found physicians and registered nurses are more likely to have student loan debt. Nursing aides and environmental service workers have more medical debt. (Devereaux, 8/5)
High health care costs continue to hit Coloradans hard, with two in three respondents to a new survey saying they delayed or went without health care due to cost in the last 12 months. Almost three in four said they experienced an issue with health affordability in the past year. That’s according to a survey of 1,400 Coloradans released Monday by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, a nonprofit health care advocacy group. The poll, part of the Healthcare Value Hub’s Consumer Healthcare Experience State Survey (CHESS), was conducted from March 26 to April 12. (Daley, 8/6)
