Low health literacy concerns from report

Health Literacy : Implications for Australia is a report from Medibank Private, which explains how low health literacy in patients is leading to more deaths in older Australians and is causing significant cost to the healthcare industry.  The study, which mainly focussed on seniors, found that nearly 60% of Australians may be unable to understand, access and communicate health information, and this is associated with higher mortality, lack of medication adherence, lack of ability to interpret labels and health messages, increased hospitalisations and poorer overall health status in seniors.