PALS - Advocate Update: Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy

Here is a recently released report from the University of Connecticut entitled "Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy", which estimates that the cost of low health literacy to the U.S. economy is between $106 billion to $236 billion annually. According to the report, the savings that could be achieved by improving health literacy would be enough to insure every one of the more than 47 million persons who lacked coverage in the US in 2006, according to recent Census Bureau estimates.

"Health literacy" is defined as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information. According to the U.S. Department of Education's 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), which contained a health literacy component for the first time, 36 percent of the adult U.S. population -- approximately 87 million people -- has only Basic or Below Basic health literacy levels.

The report findings highlight the need for two basic types of health policy interventions to help improve health literacy in the U.S.. The first is the elimination of disparities in health insurance coverage. The second focuses on specific actions to improve the ways in which health insurers and healthcare providers relate to and interact with patients.

View the entire report:

Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy