Education
Adequate Literacy and Health Literacy: Prerequisites for Informed Health Care Decision Making
Research Report
Joyce Dubow, M.U.P., AARP Public Policy Institute
June 2004
Literacy and health literacy are skills that consumers must have to successfully navigate the health care system. This 11-page Issue Brief by Joyce Dubow of AARP's Public Policy Institute presents an overview of an under-recognized public policy issue. It addresses the importance of adequate literacy skills, the prevalence and effects of inadequate or marginal skills, and strategies to address the problems that arise from having poor skills. Finally, the public policy implications are identified, including the cost of poor health literacy to public and private payers and the importance of devising effective interventions to assist those with inadequate or marginal health literacy skills.
For further information, please contact Joyce Dubow at 202/434-3901. For copies of this report, please contact ReDina Canty at 202/434-4840. (11 pages)
Pub ID: IB70