Abstract
Where people end up in the income and wealth distribution has a powerful and lasting influence on how healthy they are and how long they live. This is not just a story about poverty versus comfort. Across the entire population, health improves step by step as financial resources increase. Researchers call this pattern the health gradient.
This brief explains why that gradient exists. Drawing on decades of research from economics, public health, and social epidemiology, it shows how limited financial resources shape health through multiple pathways that unfold over different time horizons—from immediate consequences to cumulative effects that build over a lifetime.
Department
College of Health and Human Services Institute for Health Policy and Practice
Publication Date
Winter 1-2026
Grant/Award Number and Agency
Endowment for Health
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Bonica, M. (2026). Covering the Care: Why Financial Resources Matter for Health. University of New Hampshire Scholar’s Repository.