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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