Maximize Your Health

Health Literacy is how well individuals can get and understand basic health information and services. This information is important to make good healthcare decisions.

How Does Health Literacy Affect You?

Health literacy affects people’s ability to navigate the health care system. This includes:

• Filling out forms 
• Finding providers and services
• Sharing personal information, such as health history, with providers
• Knowing about self-care and chronic disease management 

Why is Health Literacy Important?

Health literacy is so important because we have to understand the basics of health care in order to manage our health and prevent disease. Did you know that 14% of adults (30 million people) have Below Basic health literacy? Those adults are more likely to report their health as poor (42%). They are more likely to lack health insurance (28%) than adults with Proficient health literacy. 

Low health literacy has been linked to poor health outcomes. This includes higher rates of hospitalization and less frequent use of preventive services. Both of these also lead to higher healthcare costs. Patients with low health literacy are more likely to treat the complications of disease. Patients with higher health literacy are more likely to use services that help prevent disease.  

• Premium: Dues or monthly payment you make for health insurance
• Benefits: Services received for paying monthly premium
• Insured: You - the person covered by the policy
• Insurer: The company you have insurance through that is assuming the risk
• Cost Sharing: The sharing of costs under your insurance plan that you pay out of your pocket. This includes copays, deductibles and coinsurance.
• Copay: The amount of money you pay at time of service
• Coinsurance: The part of the medical bill you pay for services after the deductible is met 
• Deductible: How much you pay, in total, for certain services before the insurance starts to pay
• Out of Pocket Maximum: Total amount  you spend for healthcare, after which the insurance company pays for your medical care for the year 

• AHIMA Health Literacy - A variety of health literacy resources for becoming an empowered patient
• CDC Health Literacy - A collection of resources for patients, providers and community partners
• Health Insurance Explained: The YouToons Have it Covered - Video that breaks down insurance concepts, such as premiums, deductibles and provider networks
• Health Insurance Quiz - Take this 10 question quiz to learn about your health literacy level
• Indiana Department of Education - An overview of the Indiana Department of Education
• Kaiser Family Foundation - A 10 question quiz to learn how health insurance literate you are compared to other US adults

The Indiana Minority Health Coalition is dedicated to providing the resources that will ensure all Indiana residents can have a healthy, productive life. IMHC was formed as a statewide non-profit organization to eliminate health disparities through research, education, advocacy and access to health care services for minority populations. Find out more at imhc.org.