Children’s health depends more on their parents’ level of education than their income: Source: October 18, 2018: Summary from Rutgers University : A recent study concludes that parents with higher education have healthier families because they invest more in family health care, which reduces the risk of health problems. According to a recent study by Rutgers University published in the Southern Economic Journal, parents with higher education have healthier families because they invest more in family health care, which reduces the risk of health problems despite differences in family income and health insurance. According to Mongate and Grafova, higher education for parents is accompanied by an increase in the overall costs of child and parent health care, as well as a significant increase in outpatient treatment costs for both types of families. They found that parents’ education after 12 years of age was associated with increased spending on family health care and reduced some health problems and illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes and asthma. 27, 2016 Almost half of U.S. children with special health care needs – 5.6 million children – receive billions of dollars in unpaid family health care, according to a major national study. The study also found that families headed by single mothers with higher education spend more on drugs and dentistry, while families with two parents with higher education spend more on dentistry and psychiatric care. “Our research confirms the important link between parental education and access and use of family health services,” said Mr. Monheit. For example, compared to single parent families where mothers have no secondary education, single parent families where mothers have higher education spend an additional $1,000 per year on outpatient family health care. “Children’s health status is more related to their parents’ level of education than to their income. ScienceDaily. The results of the study confirm the established “Grossman model of demand for health care services”, in which health is an inherited “asset” that increases with investments that exceed health care costs and decreases over time as a person’s health condition naturally deteriorates. 30, 2016 The relationship between family income and child health is well documented, as lower income is associated with poorer health and higher risk of chronic disease. Expenditures on education and family health. Children’s health depends more on their parents’ level of education than on their income. Therefore, this study maintains a crucial link between education and monetary investments in health care.