Poverty and Health

Posted on | December 5, 2007 | Comments Off on Poverty and Health

How higher wages and improved education could lower health care costs

Growing up in the 1950s, with a physician father who saw patients in an office attached to our house, I saw health care practiced every day. My father was as much a counselor and coach as he was a clinician and scientist – helping his patients cope with a broad range of issues. My sense, looking back, was that patients in those days were literally “cared for” by the health community – you didn’t get the feeling that people were falling through the cracks of the system as they seem to be today.

But “falling through the cracks” may be a mild way of describing what’s happening in our health care system – where a clear case of health care “haves” and “have nots” has developed, divided largely along economic, racial and educational lines.

Statistics show that in our country, the more money and education you have, the better your health. That news is bad enough. Even worse, though, is that the gap between rich and poor, educated and undereducated, is clearly widening. Poverty rose in the United States between 2000 and 2005, and household income for most people declined – with the exception being those in the top 10 percent of wage earners. And income inequality – the distance between our richest and poorest citizens – is rising. In 1980, the income of the richest 10 percent of Americans accounted for 31 percent of our nation’s total wealth. By 2006, that figure had risen to 44 percent.

What does this have to do with health? Everything! Studies show that those living in poverty or with poor education have limited health insurance, lower adherence to treatment plans, are more likely to put off going to the doctor, are more likely to smoke, and are more likely to be overweight. And they tend to pass these problems on to their children, creating a dismal cycle of poor health.

The answer? If we are to solve our health care mess, we must work just as hard at bringing people out of poverty and educating them as we do pursuing clinical advances and health care system reform. As my dad would say, “that’s just good common sense.”

To learn more about the connection between poverty, race, education and health, watch this week’s video (embedded with this blog post) or read the full transcript, below. How do you feel about this issue? Should we be concerned about income and educational disparity? And if so, what’s the best way to solve the problem? Please join the discussion!

Mike Magee