What is health literacy and why is it important?

In my foundations class, we discussed health promotion and literacy and this video that we viewed in class struck me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubPkdpGHWAQ

Health literacy is "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (https://health.gov/communication/literacy/quickguide/factsbasic.htm)."  Poor health literacy is prevalent in all healthcare settings, yet, it is often overlooked.  In this video, you can see that not everyone speaks "healthcare lingo" and many could not read or could not understand what they read.  The people in the video are great examples of average people being embarrassed about their inability to read or understand.  Also, not knowing what to ask can keep people from speaking up to ask the practitioner about what they do not understand. We need to do our best to keep our language simple when discussing treatment and ask clients follow-up questions that prove understanding.  As, therapists, we need to be aware that a client may not understand their diagnosis or the reasons for the treatment plan so we can help in health literacy by being willing to talk about their healthcare and answer any questions. Health literacy can be improved by practitioners being aware that there are gaps in understanding, looking for signs in our clients of lack of understanding, and consciously trying to promote health literacy with those we serve.

Below is the link to a great YouTube video that describes health literacy and gives ways that we as health care professionals can improve health literacy and further, improve care for our patients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8w9kdcRgsI&feature=youtu.be