Factors Contributing to Favorable Health Status

Health status is one of the most important topics in an individual’s day to day life. It is logical that an individual would want to achieve the highest possible health status. This investigation seeks to answer the following questions: How do various factors contribute to an individual’s health status? Which factors are the most significant? After an extensive literature review, a selection of variables was taken from a 2012 dataset in MEPS. A logit regression was run on the dataset along with a marginal effects calculation. Many factors turned out to be significant, but among the most influential factors on health status were the decisions to smoke and exercise.