​​ACS researchers stress initiatives to expand access to healthcare and screening facilities to improve early detection and treatment for lung cancer.​

Dr. Jingxuan Zhao led a study published July 17 in the journal Cancer that examines patients’ understanding of health insurance terms and concepts and quantifies health insurance literacy (HIL) levels by key sociodemographic factors.

Nearly three-quarters of patients had high HIL self-efficacy and high HIL knowledge (70.5%), understanding basic insurance terms, such as premiums and deductibles. Relatively low percentages of patients correctly answered questions about the meaning of provider networks, health insurance formularies, and calculating out-of-pocket spending in scenarios when insurers pay a portion of allowed charges.

In conclusion, efforts to improve HIL and navigation of health insurance plan features are required, especially for socioeconomically vulnerable patients.

ACS authors included  K. Robin Yabroff PhD, MBA .

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