People with higher levels of health literacy are less likely to fall ill and, if they do fall ill, will recover faster. They are in better health and thus help to contain today's steadily increasing health care costs.

In Switzerland, however, over 50% of the population has insufficient health literacy. This has been confirmed by studies and the federal government's expert report. The additional annual expenditure of CHF 2.2 to 3.3 billion caused by insufficient health literacy (more frequent consultations with doctors, emergency admissions, inappropriate behaviour during therapies (compliance) and increased inpatient treatment) is considerable.

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It is the task of the Swiss Health Literacy Association to improve the health literacy of the population.