Social support promotes health

Epidemiologists struggle to measure the “social determinants of health,” but the simple truth is that American society doesn’t really believe that extending health expectancy is a top national priority. Instead, it accepts health disparities as “normal,” usually prefers decentralized solutions to national problems (i.e. states’ rights), and embraces an “it’s the economy, stupid!” priority over all except security threats from abroad.  But perhaps that is beginning to change, starting from an unlikely source—the medical insurance industry.  This piece describes how several payers—Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare, Anthem, Humana, Geisinger Health—are addressing housing, transportation, access to food and social support in order to keep their subscribers out of hospital care.  These social factors, not including personal behaviors, account for about 15% of premature deaths in the US, according to the CDC.   MORE

Image Credit:  Humana