October is Health Literacy Month. Founded in 1999, Health Literacy Month promotes the importance of understandable health information. Our healthcare system is complicated, and often seems designed to keep the average American in the dark. Health literacy—the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions—is essential to promote healthy people and communities. Health care institutions play a critical role in health literacy, because they can make it easier or more difficult for people to find and use health information and services.