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At-Home COVID Test Coverage

Beginning this weekend, private health insurers in the US must cover eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per person each month, Reuters reports.

Politico adds that the announcement made by the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments is part of a Biden Administration push to stop the spread of COVID-19 by making it cheaper for people to test for it. But as Reuters reports, some experts see the move as "too little, too late" and note a nationwide shortage of over-the-counter tests.

"By requiring private health plans to cover people's at-home tests, we are further expanding Americans' ability to get tests for free when they need them," Xavier Becerra, the health secretary, says in a statement.

According to Politico, the new guidance also says that people who purchase testing kits from out-of-network sources must also be reimbursed up to at least $12 a test. If testing is ordered or conducted by a healthcare provider, there is no limit to the number of tests insurers must cover, Reuters adds.

The Scan

ChatGPT Does As Well As Humans Answering Genetics Questions, Study Finds

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics had ChatGPT answer genetics-related questions, finding it was about 68 percent accurate, but sometimes gave different answers to the same question.

Sequencing Analysis Examines Gene Regulatory Networks of Honeybee Soldier, Forager Brains

Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution find gene regulatory network differences between soldiers and foragers, suggesting bees can take on either role.

Analysis of Ashkenazi Jewish Cohort Uncovers New Genetic Loci Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

The study in Alzheimer's & Dementia highlighted known genes, but also novel ones with biological ties to Alzheimer's disease.

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.