Clinical Care

Health insurance is critical in helping people receive the preventive and medical care they need to achieve and maintain good health. Compared with insured adults, uninsured adults have inadequate access to preventive services

, worse health outcomes

and higher rates of premature death

.

• 6.0 times higher among those with less than a high school education (22.2%) compared with college graduates (3.7%).
• 3.5 times higher among other race (20.1%) compared with white (5.7%) populations. The American Indian/Alaska Native (19.6%) population also had a high rate.*
• 1.8 times higher among those ages 26-34 (15.1%) than those 55-64 (8.3%).

Primary care physicians

are typically the patient’s first point of contact with the health care system and provide critical preventive care, disease management and referrals to specialists. Having a sufficient supply of primary care physicians in a community has numerous benefits

, including lower rates of infants with low birthweight, lower all-cause mortality and longer life spans, reductions in health system costs and reductions in health disparities. Mental health providers offer essential care

to people with mental or behavioral disorders through assessments, diagnoses, treatments, medications and therapeutic interventions. Demand for mental health professionals is projected to increase

during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters can protect both individuals and communities

while reducing strain on health care systems. Currently, COVID-19 vaccines are recommended

for everyone 6 months of age and older. The vaccine and booster combination continues to decrease risk

of hospitalization and death for those who contract COVID-19. National estimate. As of October 27, 2022, 226,933,827 people or 68.4% of the total U.S. population completed a primary COVID-19 vaccination series, defined as having received one dose of a single-dose vaccine or two doses on different days (regardless of time interval) of either an mRNA or a protein-based series. In addition, 7.3% of the population with a completed primary vaccination series had an updated (bivalent) booster dose since September 1, 2022. COVID-19 vaccination rates remain lower among children than adults. A primary series was completed by 3.5% of children younger than age 5, 31.7% of children ages 5-11 and 60.9% of children ages 12-17.

Disparities. The percentage of the population who completed a primary COVID-19 vaccination series was 1.6 times higher in Rhode Island (86.3%) than in Wyoming (52.4%), the states with the highest and lowest rates as of October 27, 2022. The percentage was 1.5 times higher among Asian (63.7%) compared with Black (43.7%) populations. However, data constraints limit our ability to understand the racial/ethnic breakdown of those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19. For 21.5% of the population who completed the primary COVID-19 vaccination series, their race was unknown — emphasizing the need to prioritize collecting demographic, including racial/ethnic, information in public health data. Explore COVID-19 data.