Changing Healthcare Policies: Implications for Income, Education, and Health Disparity

The economic pie has seen growth, despite the recessions of the past decade, and has resulted in an increase in the total income level. At the same time, increasing national healthcare spending due to the high costs of medical research and development paired with a growing and aging population has become prevalent in most nations. Healthcare costs (HCs) are a significant factor that influences the current and future government budget allocations. These HCs are generating major problems for welfare systems in both the short and long term. Income disparity has become a major issue in the past decade (1–3). Ettner (4) shows that increased income levels improve mental and physical health, and Wildman (5) theoretically proves the relationship between the income differential and health disparity (4, 5). Also, Liu et al. (6) document the health inequality implications of the increasing gap in income and healthcare utilization (6). Apart from income, education also has a positive effect on healthcare consumption and health status (7). Literature shows that increase in education enhances health capital. However, there is no clear discussion on the systematic relationship between the health educational differential and income level with health disparity (8). This paper demonstrates how health education and income differentials affect health status thus creating health disparity.