What about the economics of health literacy? The woman at UCLA expresses her parental paediatric health literacy improvement in terms of its savings in health care dollars, mostly through reduced emergency room visits. What are the key economic issues related to health literacy? Do we have an idea how much poor health literacy costs in the UK and EU? is there any way that I could research the economic side of health literacy, given my shaky educational foundations?
In terms of health, scientific, civic and possibly even financial (fiduciary?) literacy, it would be interesting to look at public understanding the economics of health care, for example opinions about and understanding of the role of NICE. To me, this does fall under the ambit of health literacy, particularly in terms of understanding that individual health is often a collective problem requiring collective solutions, sacrifices and -- most importantly -- negotiation.
