Where Americans Can’t Afford Healthcare, Ranked by State
Description
Where Americans Can’t Afford Healthcare, Ranked by State
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Key Takeaways
- Southern states post higher shares of surveyed adults who said they skipped visiting the doctor due to cost reasons in 2023, per CDC data.
- Notable amongst them is Texas—highest of all the states—with 18% of respondents being unable to afford healthcare.
- Texas has one of the strictest Medicaid eligibility requirements, leaving many working-poor adults uninsured.
If there are two issues that dominate America’s online discourse, they’re the soaring cost of housing and the even steeper price of staying healthy.
The U.S. pours almost $13,000 per person into healthcare, yet average life expectancy is below nearly every other high-income nation.
It’s a study of contrasts. The country boasts of state of the art facilities and cutting edge research, while nearly 10% of Americans can’t afford healthcare.
This number comes from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data that lists the share of surveyed adults who skipped seeing a doctor in 2023 because it simply cost too much.
In the map and article below we break down the varying trends per state.
Note: Source figures unavailable for Kentucky and Pennsylvania.Ranked: States Where Americans Skip the Doctor
Texas leads the nation in not being able to afford healthcare. More than 18% of surveyed adults said skipped a doctor’s visit due to cost, far above the 10.6% U.S. median.
| Rank | State / Territory | State Code | Skipped Doctor Due to Cost, 2023 (% surveyed) | Total Surveyed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | TX | 18.3 | 10,020 |
| 2 | Virgin Islands | VI | 17.2 | 2,050 |
| 3 | Georgia | GA | 15.6 | 8,202 |
| 4 | Nevada | NV | 15.2 | 2,645 |
| 5 | Tennessee | TN | 14.9 | 5,615 |
| 6 | Mississippi | MS | 14.1 | 4,053 |
| 7 | Arkansas | AR | 13.9 | 5,327 |
| 8 | Alabama | AL | 13.5 | 4,352 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | OK | 13.3 | 6,696 |
| 10 | Florida | FL | 12.9 | 13,209 |
| 11 | South Carolina | SC | 12.8 | 9,986 |
| 12 | West Virginia | WV | 12.5 | 4,328 |
| 13 | Arizona | AZ | 12.1 | 11,991 |
| 14 | Colorado | CO | 12.1 | 8,744 |
| 15 | Wyoming | WY | 12 | 4,465 |
| 16 | Utah | UT | 11.7 | 11,116 |
| 17 | Louisiana | LA | 11.5 | 5,364 |
| 18 | Missouri | MO | 11.5 | 7,185 |
| 19 | Idaho | ID | 11.3 | 6,871 |
| 20 | Alaska | AK | 11.1 | 5,500 |
| 21 | Kansas | KS | 10.9 | 9,855 |
| 22 | New Jersey | NJ | 10.8 | 9,286 |
| 23 | California | CA | 10.7 | 11,924 |
| 24 | New Mexico | NM | 10.7 | 3,212 |
| 25 | North Carolina | NC | 10.7 | 4,082 |
| 26 | Illinois | IL | 10.6 | 5,267 |
| 27 | Indiana | IN | 10.4 | 10,960 |
| 28 | South Dakota | SD | 10.3 | 5,858 |
| 29 | Oregon | OR | 10.2 | 6,201 |
| 30 | District of Columbia | DC | 9.8 | 3,198 |
| 31 | Montana | MT | 9.7 | 7,120 |
| 32 | New York | NY | 9.7 | 17,269 |
