Health literacy is your ability to find, understand, and use health information to make good decisions. Stronger health literacy leads to better care and lower costs.
What is health literacy?
Health literacy is how well you can find, understand, and use health information and services to make decisions for yourself and your family. It is not about how smart you are — even highly educated people find healthcare confusing. The system is complex, and the words are often unfamiliar.
There are two sides to it:
- Personal health literacy: your ability to understand and use information.
- Organizational health literacy: how well clinics, hospitals, and insurers make information clear and easy to use.
Why it matters
People with stronger health literacy tend to:
- Understand their diagnosis and treatment options
- Take medications correctly
- Avoid unnecessary tests and costs
- Ask better questions and feel more confident
- Have better health outcomes overall
When information is unclear, people can miss warning signs, skip helpful care, or pay more than they need to.
How to build your health literacy
- Ask for plain language. It is okay to say, “Can you explain that more simply?”
- Use the teach-back method. Repeat instructions back in your own words to confirm you understood.
- Rely on trustworthy sources. Government and professional sites (listed below) are good starting points.
- Write down your questions before appointments.
- Bring a friend or family member to help listen and remember.