Financial literacy courses are more widely available but still not a routine part of general education.

“If these topics are taught at all in primary education, they certainly aren’t addressed consistently or in an evidence-based way,” said Harold Pollack, a professor at the University of Chicago who was a co-author of a book on basic financial education. “But singling out the Medicaid population for classes as a condition for access to insurance suggests that shrinking and stigmatizing the program, not literacy, is the goal.”

Numerous studies document the widespread need for greater health and financial literacy. By one estimate, one-third of adults have health literacy deficits. For example, most people make errors in selecting health plans and don’t know basic features of the plans they choose.

The last large national survey of U.S. adult literacy (including health literacy) was conducted in 2003. One study found that 60 percent of Medicaid enrollees had only “basic” or “below basic” health literacy, meaning, for example, they could not recognize a medical appointment on a hospital appointment form (below basic) or would have trouble understanding why a specific test was recommended for someone with certain symptoms, even when given a clearly written and accurate explanation (basic).

But Medicaid enrollees are not the only ones. Nearly the same proportion of Medicare enrollees also had basic or below basic health literacy. Privately insured people scored better. They are typically younger than Medicare enrollees, and they typically have higher education levels and are less likely to have cognitive impairments than those with public coverage. However, only a small minority even of the privately insured had a “proficient” level of health literacy — meaning, for example, that they could deduce the employee share of health insurance costs from a table that listed that cost as a function of income and family size.

Another study, based on data collected in 2013, showed adults’ blood test results alongside the normal range (typical of reports many of us receive from our doctors after blood tests). Only about half of the subjects could recognize if the blood glucose level indicated on the test was outside the normal range. Of those with diabetes — to whom blood glucose measurement and levels should be familiar given the importance to their condition — only 56 percent could identify out-of-range values.

Poor health literacy is associated with worse health care outcomes and higher health care spending. But causality could run both ways. It is likely that people in greater need of health care are also less likely to have high literacy skills in general. It’s also possible that poor health literacy contributes to worse self-management of health and lifestyle issues that could result in worsening health and increased health care use.