"Health literacy" sounds like a complicated concept, but it's actually fairly simple– it's how we read, understand and act on health information.

People with low health literacy are less likely to follow treatments prescribed by their health care providers, may fail to get preventative care, stay in the hospital longer and might feel afraid to ask for help making health care decisions.

The good news? You can improve your health literacy by asking your doctor just three questions.

You can improve your health literacy by asking your doctor just three questions. 

Understand what to ask

"We all struggle to understand the complex health information and insurance terminology commonly used," says Alisha Odhiambo, senior provider quality program manager at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

"The Ask Me 3 campaign provides questions to help patients and caregivers better understand their condition, what they need to do and why it is important to do it."

The Ask Me 3 program, run by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, gives patients three easy questions to ask their health care provider during each and every health care visit for yourself or for a loved one.

• What is my main problem?
• What do I need to do?
• Why is it important for me to do this?

Clear, simple information

“We hope to empower our members to ask questions at every health meeting, call with a health coach or even when communicating with customer service here at Blue Cross,” says Odhiambo. “Asking questions is one of the best ways to improve understanding and health literacy.”

She explains that Blue Cross is making a conscious effort to reduce the burden on members by providing clear and simple information when it comes to healthy behavior, medical conditions, medications and insurance benefits.

“For Blue Cross, it’s all about plain language to help provide information in a way people can understand the first time they hear or read it,” she says.

Commitment to heath literacy

Blue Cross is a founding member and chair of the Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership, which encourages statewide efforts to improve health literacy. This is important as health literacy touches Blue Cross at many levels. As such, Blue Cross is working to:

• Strive to make our health care access points easy to use and understandable by all.
• Seek to provide clear and simple communications that inspire members to stay or get healthy.
• Empower all consumers to ask questions and take charge of their health care by being engaged and prepared.

Don’t understand? Just ask

“People are more likely to ask questions when shopping for something than when seeking medical care. It’s time to turn that trend around and start taking charge of your health by being engaged and asking questions,” Odhiambo says.

“Ask when you don’t understand! It’s our job as health professionals to make sure we explain things in a way you understand so you can make the health decisions that best fit you.”

Learn more

For more information on Ask Me 3, check out the Ask Me 3 Tools and Resources page.

For information on how to increase your health literacy, visit medlineplus.gov.

To learn more about the Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership, visit their website.