Health Insurance Access: Influence on Hopefulness and Healthy Habits

The US healthcare system does not provide universal healthcare to its citizens, thus leaving a significant portion of the population uninsured at any given time. Given the importance of good health in daily life, the current study aims to gain insight on the influence of health insurance status on other health-related factors: particularly hope and healthy eating. A proper diet has long been a staple of healthy living, and having hope can be beneficial to ones mental health. The results of a simple regression analysis concluded that health insurance status was a significant predictor of hope scores, such that participants without health insurance scored lower on the hope scale. A second regression analysis determined that health insurance status was not a significant predictor of healthy eating scores. Thus, the results suggest that although health insurance status may not affect certain physical behaviors, there are emotional effects.https://via.library.depaul.edu/psychologynight/1151/thumbnail.jp