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The article discusses what health literacy is and what constitutes good health literacy. Cultural, language and communication barriers have great potential to lead to mutual misunderstandings between patients and their health care providers. Because these barriers lead to communication breakdowns, patient safety is jeopardized, so changes that will permit patients to receive more time, attention, education and understanding of their conditions and their care will help alleviate these obstacles.

An eye-opening article written by Loeb depicts the political uproar over the youth vote. Stunning statistics show a 60% to 38% difference in Democratic over Republican candidates. The main obstacle that the Democrats are speaking about is the financial barriers affecting the affordability of higher education. Loeb also depicts a general sense that the Republican administration has cut Federal Financial Aid from the budget. This article can be helpful to bring awareness to the position of our youth facing political opposition over the financial barriers of higher education and how the Democrats are capturing the youth vote by making student financial aid a priority.

Weiss discusses the scope of the health literacy problem, the barriers faced by patients with low literacy, and methods to foster verbal and written communication in low literacy patients. Low literacy is pervasive in the U.S. and causes an unnecessary financial and health burden. Because of the complicated health literature, most patients have inadequate understanding of what is said, and simple strategies can alleviate low health literacy problems. Weiss makes interesting and provocative points, but much of his observations are based on his medical practice.

College students could have an enormous impact on the November election, but some may have trouble casting a ballot. Watchdog groups warn that college students are already facing problems registering to vote and could see major obstacles on election day. Includes two links to resources for young voters at the end of the article.

Wilder discusses how the communication problems with health professional can negatively impact the outcome of medical care for patients with low health literacy skills. Because of the way health information is presented by clinicians, patients have trouble comprehending what is said. Because patients are expected to play an active role in their own medical care and treatment, it is necessary that health information be given in ways that patients and families can understand. Low literacy gets in the way of good health care and leads to more health problems in patients. Wilder makes a good case for the importance of good communication techniques in health matters.