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Knowing that my husband is an avid news follower, I read my assignment to him and asked for his suggestion. He threw out a few things: the war, gas prices, and the cost of living. I chose inflation because the community that my facility currently serves consists of majority low-income residents and people who are hesitant to seek medical attention until it is almost too late.

According to a news article on NPR.org (2022), surging inflation poses a particular challenge for working-class families, impacting the cost of basic necessities, such as groceries (Horley, 2022). Although everyone is concerned, worried even, about the rising costs and the scarcity, there will be an enormous domino effect that will impact the health of many. Inflation is the result of too many dollars chasing too few goods. Simply put: the more demand there is for goods and services, the more things cost; and the more things cost, the less you can buy (Andrews, 2021). This will create competing priorities for most people and, when given the choice between medicine and food, food will almost, always win. Over time, this leads to worsening conditions, deterioration in health, and eventually death.

The increasing cost of goods and services could be the beginning of countless problems to come for healthcare providers, insurers, and patients alike (Andrews, 2021). These economic and other challenging factors, known as determinants of health, will lead to health problems and cause severe setbacks to the Healthy People 2020 initiative. These determinants, personal, social, economic, and environmental factors are interrelated and influence individual and population health (Healthy People, 2022).

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