Essay Sample on Income, Wealth and Health

There exist a healthy relationship between health, wealth and income. Not only does the economic resources allow people to live healthily but also access better medical care. That is to say; good income will enable people to stay in safer households and neighborhoods, time for physical activity, have access to healthier food and most noteworthy, live a stress-free life (Molony & Duncan, 2016). Additionally, knowledge regarding the interaction between the aspects mentioned above allows the experts to implement appropriate policies, therefore, reducing social discrepancies in health. Those people with higher earnings tend to accumulate more assets. Income is measure over single time while wealth is the accumulated assets over time. Corresponding, wealth is used to measure cumulative lifetime economic resources of an individual. It is of great importance also to note that both income and wealth changes over time (Molony & Duncan, 2016).

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Subsequently, health levels change with these variables. The link between health and income begin early in life. For instance, children with low birth weight are at the highest rate among low-income families. Moreover, chronic health conditions later in life are attributed to low-birth-weight (Molony & Duncan, 2016). Those children in low-income families are more; likely to receive poor medication for their lifetime than those from medium and high-class families. Besides, these children from low-income families are likely to contract diseases such as hearing problems, high blood levels, digestive disorders and heart conditions resulting in short lifespan (Molony & Duncan, 2016). On the other side, children from high-income families tend to access improved health and less prone to chronic diseases, therefore, longer life. In contrary, obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors have been linked high-level of accumulated wealth (Molony & Duncan, 2016). Subsequently, wealthy people should know how to eat healthier.

Wealth and income impact health in many pathways. That is access to goods and services that promote health; physiological effects related economic resources as well as cumulative effects. Access to products and services that promote health is also referred to as "material" pathways. Healthy good and services not only apply to medical care but also healthy food, insurance premiums, deductibles and the copayments. All these good and services are essential when an individual is sick. For low-income families, they cannot even afford the basic needs thus quite hard for them to access such services (Molony & Duncan, 2016). Correspondingly, greater economic resources allow people to receive favorable conditions that prevent illness.

Apart from that, psychosocial effects associated with economic resources also explain the impact of wealth on human wealth. Income is directly linked with occupation as well as working environments. Welcoming and appropriate working stations reduce stress significantly, therefore, longer life. Poorly paid workers face a lot of pressure in their working places and have little control over their job. As a result, they stand high chances of developing stress leading to traumatic life (Molony & Duncan, 2016). Also, poorly paid personnel are prone to violence, distractions, struggles, residential crowding and beyond. Such behavior affects the neighborhood negatively.

Cumulative effects over time and at most critical times regarding economic advantage and disadvantages have a more significant impact on individual health life. This refers to collective hardships and variations in income proportionally impact health-related consequences. It includes physical functioning, cognitive functioning, diabetic rates, hypertension, psychological state and ultimately, the mortality rate. On the same note, low-income parents are challenged on how to shape the lives of their children towards healthy living for many reasons (Molony & Duncan, 2016). For example, they have neither inadequate knowledge, skills nor enough time for cognitive stimulation of promising for their kids.

To Fix Health, Help the Poor

At times, having a better life is not all about spending a considerable amount of money on health. Besides, spending significant amount money on medication, it is paramount importance invest on social amenities such as employment-training programs, family support, unemployment benefits, old-age pensions, rent subsidies and much more (Melby et al., 2016). Such aspects significantly improve as well as extend the quality of life. For instance, in the United States, a higher percentage of the population spends too much unhealthy.

Nonetheless, they are still ranked in the bottom half of industrialized countries with low life expectancy and high mortality (Melby et al., 2016). This is because the quality of life depends on what an individual count. That is, fixing health problem rely much on helping the poor in the society to elevate their standards. Combining investment in both social services help reduce the substantial amount people spend on healthcare services. This is of much importance because most of the health problems are founded on the social issues.

America, been among industrialized countries, spends significant of its resources on health relative to social care. For every dollar, on health care, they pay 90 cents on social services. In contrary, in peer countries, for every dollar spent on health care, extra $2 is spent on social services (Melby et al., 2016). This shows how some nations are characterized by the disproportionate allocation of resources on health facilities. Those countries who spend too many social services tend to have a quality life than those nations who spend more resources in healthcare relative to social amenities. As well, those nations who invest in social amenities tend to have low infant mortality than those nations who invest more money in healthcare amenities. Generally speaking, unfulfilled social needs worsen the health conditions (Melby et al., 2016). Sweden and France are ranked among the best countries with better health services. This is because they invest a higher amount of money on social relative to healthcare amenities from the start.

Improving the social level of people improves their quality of life. As a result, the causes of health problems are expressively reduced. The poor living condition, inadequate diet, insecure neighborhood, stress, no time for physical activities and another precarious state of living pose a significant danger to the poor in the community. Subsequently, if a nation chooses to improve the state of living for his people, chances of contracting diseases and other pathological causing-agents is less. As a result, the amount spends on health care will decrease by higher percentages. Creating and sustaining a healthy society should be the primary objective of every nation. According to Melby (et al., 2016) for example, being homeless is not considered as a health problem. However, homelessness prevents people from accessing proper nutrition, appropriate hygienic conditions, basic first aid and even inadequate food.

Such limitation increases the chance of getting ulcers, rape, violence, respiratory infections, trauma, and frostbite. As a result, the government will be forced to invest money in treating these conditions. The amount spends on treatment is higher than if the government could choose to invest in social their needs by providing with a place to live. Consequently, it is of great significance if a country can strategize on how to appropriately marry between social needs and healthcare facilities (Melby et al., 2016). Last but not least, those countries who spend a considerable amount of money on social needs relative to medical care tend to thrive better healthcare section. Fix health problems by choosing to help the poor elevate their living standard.

References

Melby, M. K., Loh, L. C., Evert, J., Prater, C., Lin, H., & Khan, O. A. (2016). Beyond medical "missions" to impact-driven short-term experiences in global health (STEGHs): ethical principles to optimize community benefit and learner experience. Academic Medicine, 91(5), 633-638.

Molony, E., & Duncan, C. (2016). Income, Wealth and Health Inequalities-A Scottish Social Justice Perspective. AIMS public health, 3(2), 255.