American Health Illiteracy Costs U.S. Billions

By: Lindsay Fetzner

Posted: 6/9/08

While health related issues - from affordable health care to easy exercise tips - are often in the headlines, a UConn study reveals that overall, Americans are uneducated on matters concerning their health.

Only 12 percent of Americans are health literate enough to handle their own care, according to the 2007 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report.

Health illiteracy harms not only patients and the quality of care that they receive but the economy as well. It is estimated that poor health literacy costs the United States between $106 and $236 billion dollars annually, according to a UConn report released last year.

"Many people do not have primary care physicians and if they become sick, they go to the emergency room," said Julia Morrison, a 7th-semester nursing student at Simmons College in Boston, Mass. "This can increase hospital costs and become a detriment to the economy as well."

Many Americans go to the emergency room when they experience health problems because they don't know where else they can go, according to Megan Enzmann, a 7th-semester allied health science major.

In 2003, Americans made 113.9 million visits to hospital emergency rooms, a 26 percent increase from 1993. At the same time, hospital emergency departments have decreased about 12.3 percent, according to the National Center for Health Statistics for May 2002.

American health illiteracy is a worsening epidemic. In 2003, 22 percent of people were classified as having basic health literacy whereas an astonishing 14 percent ranked below basic, according to a Reuters article. Nearly one -third of people did not have the ability to determine their medical dosage stated on their prescription bottle.

Health illiteracy is the result of several factors, including demographics, age and education. Minorities such as blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans are more likely to score under the categories of below basic health literacy. Furthermore, they are more likely to lack health insurance, according aarticle.

"In my experience working in hospitals in Boston and Hartford area, patients are hesitant to ask questions to doctors and nurses if they don't comprehend the diagnosis or medications they are put on," Morrison said. "Whether it is intimidation or the literacy aspect, it is important for Americans to be advocates for their own health."

For a majority of patients, increasing age comes with increasing prescriptions. The large population of baby boomers will probably make the health literacy problem worse before getting better, according to John Vernon, the leading author of the UConn study.

To address the health illiteracy problem, the Department of Health and Human Services has set the stakes high and has a goal to get rid of health disparities by the year 2010, according to Cindy Brach from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

One major issue that needs to be addressed and refined is health information communication. Often, the health care information patients receive is confusing and complex. Offering people information in a basic manner that everyone can understand would be a start to putting this country on the right path for better health literacy, Brach said. With adequate education and communication, people would be more apt to understand their individual health coverage, how to properly administer their prescriptions and have a better general understanding of their health care as a whole.

Contact Lindsay Fetzner at Lindsay.Fetzner@UConn.edu.