Marry For Health Reasons? Maybe Not Necessary

One common conception that scientists in the past have validated is that for your health, it is better to be married. A new study as reported in BusinessWeek, however, is suggesting otherwise.

Hui Liu, study’s lead author from Michigan State University stated

"One of the most-often documented facts is that married people are healthier than non-married people, but the difference between married and unmarried people has changed over the past few decades."

As the article further reports:

- the self-reported health status of never-married adults increased significantly over time

- self-reported health status of married women also increased

- the gap between married and never-married women's health stayed about the same

- never-married men narrowed the health gap between themselves and married men

Some of the speculated reasons for the results of the study include that with the mores in society changing, it is no longer imperative to have a spouse for social status and acceptance. In addition, currently there are more support systems in place for those who are unmarried that may help them to not experience the negative side effects that in the past have been associated with being single.

‘I Do’….For Insurance

While financial support has been an important criteria for many who marry, a study, from Kaiser Family Foundation, recently came out about the growing influence that healthcare has on the decision to marry. An astounding 7% of Americans within the past year have either married or know someone who has married for healthcare coverage. This post on the Wall Street Journal provides more detail, including highlighting some issues about how respondents perceived the survey question, resulting in the percentage of 4.5 million Americans who marry with cost of healthcare in mind. Even though the overall percentage is small, it is still a significant part of the population. Here is more information from the full story at the Houston Chronicle.