Hi there, 

Health insurance in the US is complicated and expensive. 

It’s so expensive that folks are finding ways to hack it. Someone recently set up a website (see The Blurb) for people to enroll in a local university so they can receive cheaper insurance.

There is a push to make the horribly complicated and opaque industry more transparent about pricing.

Technology companies are trying to tackle this transparency challenge by building solutions that:

• Provide drug price transparency

• Enable a reverse auction process for medical appointments

• Rebuild health insurance by eliminating deductibles and co-insurance completely

We dig deeper into how the US health insurance system is being disrupted and the emerging trends and solutions to keep an eye on in this report.

Pour it up 
 

The White House announced in August that it would pour more than $1B into establishing AI institutes across the US. 

Take a look at the top-funded AI companies bolstering the US’ effort to remain competitive in AI research in this graphic.

Money honey
 

As companies across the globe tighten belts amid Covid, ByteDance is reportedly handing out a half-month's salary bonus to its 60,000+ employees.

We dig into how TikTok’s owner has seen such success with its portfolio of apps in this report. 

Beyond the US

Beyond Meat is building 2 production facilities close to Shanghai in a push to establish a presence in China.  

China accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s meat consumption and could represent an immense market for plant-based meat. We cover the emerging trends driving the demand for meatless products here.

Talk about impressive

We’re excited to share that Karen DeSalvo, the chief health officer of Google, will be joining us at the upcoming Future of Health (September 23-25).
 

Karen has quite the impressive resume. Among many, many other things, she helped to digitize New Orleans' health IT infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina, and is a former National Coordinator for Health IT.
 

Speaking of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the current National Coordinator for Health IT, Don Rucker, will also be joining us at the Future of Health. Former ONC director Vindell Washington will be there too. He’s currently the chief clinical officer of Verily Health Platform (an Alphabet/Google healthcare subsidiary).  
 

We look forward to taking a deep look at healthcare IT and interoperability. Save $300 with code ONCx3.

Let it rain
 

Smart Money investors like Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, NEA, and others are placing their bets in real estate tech, with alternative lenders drawing the most deals. 

Expert Intelligence clients can take a look at investment trends in the real estate tech space in this brief.

YourStory. Tenzin Pema (@tenzin_pema) interviews CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal (@asanwal) about how he built CB Insights via its newsletter and more.

Built In. Brendan Meyer (@Brendan_Meyer13) speaks to CB Insights technical project manager Rob Thomas (@RCThomas_) about what it’s like to work at CB Insights.

Ad Age. Adrianne Pasquarelli (@SheLikesToShop) looks at the comeback plans of flexible office providers, citing CB Insights analysts Kenya Watson and Oliver Yu (@yuo526) and the CB Insights reopening the office report.

P.S. Want to get paid to dig into more healthcare trends with us? We’re looking for a healthcare analyst. Check out the role here. 

The Blurb
 

Forever a college student. Here's a life hack: get health insurance for cheaper by enrolling in a local university. 

Healthcareisdumb.com

Abandon ship. Experts weigh in on what would happen if all personal data leaked at once. 

Gizmodo

Sweet victory. A Finnish town is offering residents cake and other rewards for cutting their carbon emissions.

Euronews

Me, myself, and I. Neuroscientists are looking to quantify loneliness to better understand the costs of social isolation.

MIT Technology Review

Fenced in. Police are increasingly using geofence warrants to request data from tech firms to find out who was near a crime scene.

WIRED