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Low Health Literacy: Implications for National
Health Policy
Low health literacy is a major source of economic inefficiency in the U.S. healthcare
system. A new economic impact report, Low Health Literacy: Implications for
National Health Policy, was released to the public on October 10, 2007.
The lead author of the report was John Vernon, PhD, a health economist from University
of Connecticut.
An Economic Drain: The report reveals that an initial approximation
places the order of magnitude of the cost of low health literacy to the U.S. economy
in the range of $106 billion to $238 billion annually.
This represents between 7 percent and 17 percent of all personal healthcare expenditures.
The Financial Burden in Perspective: The savings that could be
achieved by improving health literacy – a lower bound of $106 billion and
an upper bound of $238 billion – translate into enough funds to insure every
one of the more than 47 million persons who lacked coverage in the United States
in 2006, according to recent Census Bureau estimates.
A Huge Burden for Future Generations: When one accounts for the
future costs of low health literacy that result from current actions (or lack of
action), the real present day cost of low health literacy is closer in range to
$1.6 trillion to $3.6 trillion. This measure is
relevant to guide choices about where the social investment might go today.
A Wrong Assumption: While ethnic minority groups are disproportionately
affected by low health literacy, the majority of those with low health literacy
skills in the United States are white, native-born Americans, as the latter group
represents the largest segment of the population.
An Opportunity for Change: Addressing the low health literacy problem
as part of national health reform can be expected to result in major savings, as
well as better health. Furthermore, the lack of stable coverage and reliable health
care access, two pillars of appropriate health care, are significantly associated
with low health literacy as both problems keep people from learning to use health
care appropriately and in their own best interests.
Review
Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy
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Review the Appendix of Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy
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Next: Will patients agree to have their literacy
skills assessed in clinical practice? >>