Access relates to the ability, right or opportunity to experience or make use of something. Several factors influence measures of health care access: 1) the supply of health care services; 2) cost or affordability; 3) physical accessibility including location and hours of operation; and 4) acceptability of services including cultural and linguistic considerations. In the United States, access to health care depends heavily on access to health insurance, either through private providers or Medicare/Medicaid.  Barriers to health care access can include literacy or language barriers, cultural issues, lack of medical providers in a given area, immigration status, and geography. Gaps in coverage result as youth age out of public and private insurance coverage or earn insufficient incomes to afford health insurance.

The prevalence of Connecticut adults age 18-64 with annual household incomes less than $25,000 and with health care coverage has increased over time.  This increase may be do to various policies implemented in recent years, such as the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid Expansion.

The rates are single-year estimates and are age-adjusted to the US 2000 population. Percentages are age-adjusted to eliminate differences in crude rates that result from differences in the populations’ age distributions from year to year.

Note: New BRFSS weighting and survey methodologies began in 2011 and include data collected from cellular telephones. These rates are not comparable to rates from 2010 and earlier.

The target was developed as part of Live Healthy Connecticut, A Coordinated Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Plan. 

Data are current as of December 2022.  New data will be available in the Fall of 2023.

Connecticut Department of Public Health, Connecticut Office of Policy and Management, Connecticut Department of Children and Families, Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Connecticut Department of Social Services, Connecticut Department of Transportation, Connecticut Office of Rural Health, Office of the Healthcare Advocate, Office of Health Care Reform and Innovation, local public health agencies, municipal government, health care providers, health professional associations, other organizations and coalitions focused on access to health services, community service organizations serving specific populations (children, older adults, underserved populations), faith-based organizations, local and state boards of education, business, health insurers, and philanthropic organizations that address access to health services.