A recent UConn and Pfizer study found that people who don't understand healthcare issues cost the U.S. economy between $106 and $230 billion per year.
The study, "Low Health Literacy: Implications for National Health Policy," was an economic analysis of an adult health literacy survey the U.S. Department of Education did in 2003, according to John Vernon, co-author of the study and assistant professor of finance at UConn.
Health literacy, as defined by the National Institute of Medicine, assesses the degree to which individuals can understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.
According to the survey, 36 percent of the adult population - or about 87 million people - had only basic or below basic health literacy levels.
Savings achieved by improving health literacy would be enough to insure each of the 47 million Americans who do not have health insurance, according to the report. Ignorance of the health care system could end up costing between $1.6 and $3.6 trillion over the next 30 to 50 years.
Vernon worked with Barbara DeBuono, executive director for public health and government at Pfizer, Sara Rosenbaum of the school of public health and health services at George Washington University and Antonio Trujillo of the college of health and public affairs at the University of Central Florida.
"We worked on the analysis for several months," Vernon said. "Before that, we waited for a long time for the data to be released. There was a lot of frustration because the government dragged their feet in releasing the information."
According to Vernon's report, there are two types of health policy interventions. The first is one that eliminates inconsistencies in health insurance coverage and the other focuses on ways to improve the way health care providers and insurers relate to patients.
"There is a vast inefficiency between most adults and health care providers, which ends up being costly to the U.S. economy," Vernon said. "It can be eliminated by investing in improving health literacy."
The study also recommended creating federally-funded health literacy centers, encouraging public and private health insurers to include translation and interpreter services for patients and offering incentives for health professionals to assist patients.
"The objective and motivation of the analysis is to raise awareness of health literacy levels to stimulate additional research in this area," Vernon said.
Vernon said he did not know what the next step in the process will be, but he hopes to see policy change as a result of the report.
"It's important to make sure adults in our society are educated about their health care," said Jessica Liguori, a member of the Student Health Advisory Committee and a 5th-semester nutritional sciences major. "It's necessary for people to be able to read prescriptions and health insurance applications."
Contact Kala Kachmar at
Kala.Kachmar@UConn.edu.
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