Interrelationship of Health, Stress, and Economy - Essay Example

As a result, families spend much more of their household incomes on healthcare at the expense of other priorities such as children’s education. Furthermore, employers respond to higher healthcare costs by scaling back increases in wages and also increasing cost sharing by their employees. This causes such families to have insufficient financial resources to cater for their needs. Among these needs could be healthcare, resulting in an unhealthy population. As a result of this financial strain, the employees could develop stress (Thoits, 2010). The World Health Organization, WHO (2011) observes that unemployment leads to stress that could lead to death. Thus, a poor economy propagates the development of stress. Stronger economies can make health care accessible to their citizens thus a healthier population and stronger economy. This could be deduced from studies by Schoen, Osborn, Squires, and Doty (2013) which indicate that the health system in the US is better than in developing economies. This could be attributed to the US’ strong economy that enables it to cater to the health needs of its citizens.

The shift from manufacturing to knowledge-dependent economies emphasizes the significance of mental health in the economy. WHO (2011) appreciates mental health as a state of an individual’s well-being where one realizes own abilities and develops the capability to cope up with normal life’s stresses and productively contribute to the economy. Therefore, interfering with this psychological condition spirals down to the economy of the community. Stress, one of the indications of psychological instability, causes traumas and chronic strains (Thoits, 2010). This poor health condition hampers the population’s ability to contribute optimally to the economy. The resultant poor economy further jeopardizes the ability to access healthcare, resulting in further deterioration of the population’s health. On the other hand, Aguayo-Rico, Guerra-Turrubiates, and Oca-Hernandez (2005) observe that good mental health, free of stress, results in emotional and cognitive flexibility. This makes individuals able to positively adjust to economic stresses. Consequently, minimal resources would be used in healthcare, causing these resources to be used for other productive activities which boost the economy. A healthy population has been noted to positively contribute to the economy.

Health and the economy have a positive correlation. This could be tested at an individual, regional, and even national level. Studies by Bhargava, Jamison, Lau, and Murray (2002) show that with better health, the developing nations’ populations have posted increased productivity. This directly impacts on the economy of such countries. Analyzing the context of developed countries, these researchers observed that in the Netherlands, poor health, specifically due to disability, negatively impacts the economy. Therefore, a healthy nation promotes greater economic gains. These findings support the argument by Aguayo-Rico et al. (2005) that health allows the full development of human capacities which directly relate to the productivity of such humans. Thus, health and the economy have a positive correlation.

When people are unable to access care, they develop stress due to their unsatisfied needs (Schoen et al., 2013). In turn, this lowers productivity which negatively impacts the economy. According to WHO (2011), making healthcare accessible to the population encourages healthy living among the population. With a healthy population, productivity rises, and so does the economy. Even further, accessibility to healthcare curbs extreme health complications thus fewer expenses on health care. The saved resources would be made available for other economic promotion activities.

Thus, health, stress, economy, and access to care interact to influence each other such that an alteration in one of these factors affects the other three. To ensure a positive outcome, there would be a need to make the right policy choices. Policies that promote positive economic growth would promote access to care, and health and reduce stress among the population. Similarly, implementing policies that positively influence any of the other three factors would promote the other factors.