Health Literacy Month: Making care understandable, equitable and accessible
Health literacy is people's ability to understand and use health information and services and is the foundation of an effective health care system and a healthy population. When health care is confusing and riddled with information barriers, people don't get the services they need to stay healthy.
This Health Literacy Month, we recognize that improving health literacy among the Medicare population must be a collaboration between individuals, communities, and health care organizations.
Definition and Objectives
The U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) defines health literacy as a collaborative effort between individuals and organizations.
- personal health literacy It is the ability to “find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions for yourself and others.”
- organizational health literacy Refers to “the extent to which an organization fairly enables individuals to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions.”
Health literacy is influenced by environmental, social, and economic factors that influence people's access to health resources and care. This and other social determinants of health may mean that without proactive help, some individuals and communities may not achieve important health goals. Improving health literacy requires systematically addressing these disparities to create benefits beyond public health by building stronger, more equitable communities.
Improving health literacy requires systemic solutions.
Healthcare organizations have the ability and responsibility to improve public health literacy by ensuring equity and access to care. ODPHP's National action plan to improve health literacy Includes providing accurate and actionable information, promoting age- and culturally appropriate education, and implementing evidence-based strategies in care and policy development.
Health literacy for older adults and people with disabilities
The World Health Organization says disparities in health literacy reflect existing social inequalities and are deepened by disparities in age, income, racial and ethnic minority status, and language proficiency. As a group that is often marginalized based on age, ability, and income, Medicare and Medicaid populations must be a priority for any health literacy program in the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2022 that nine out of 10 adults in the United States do not receive enough help and information to achieve health literacy. Among Medicaid recipients, 60 percent have “basic” or “less than basic” levels of health literacy. In the survey, older adults said they struggled to process complex health information and were not given enough time and support to understand information and instructions when making appointments. For people with Medicare and Medicaid, this can lead to confusion about when to enroll, what coverage and supplemental benefits they are eligible for, or missed enrollment periods and deadlines.
meet information needs
Effective communication with older adults and people with disabilities requires adapting materials to different levels of cognitive, visual, and hearing abilities. Healthcare organizations can also expand access by:
- Reach people in settings where they are already receiving services
- Provide information in a variety of formats, including digital, print and face-to-face
- Work with advocates and community organizations to bridge cultural, geographic and technological divides
Improve health literacy and protect Medicare
Medicare is designed to promote health equity by ensuring coverage for seniors and people with disabilities. To fully realize this, beneficiaries must have the knowledge, support and confidence to navigate the system and utilize their benefits effectively.
When people understand their coverage, they can better make informed choices, identify gaps in care, and advocate for improvements to strengthen health insurance for generations to come. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid services have reduced people’s access to clear and accurate information, compromising health literacy and the autonomy to make good health decisions.
Beneficiaries must have the knowledge, support and confidence to navigate the system and utilize their benefits effectively.
At Medicare Rights, improving health literacy and making Medicare more equitable and accessible is core to our mission. Through our educational resources, advisory services, and policy advocacy, we are committed to helping older adults and people with disabilities make informed decisions about their health care. We also work to ensure that health care providers are accountable for improving health literacy in their organizations so that everyone on Medicare has clear and accurate information about their health and insurance coverage.
Visit Medicare Interactive to learn more about Medicare insurance coverage.
Please call our national helpline (800-333-4114) for assistance.
Please visit our website to learn more about our policy positions.
