Connecticut’s Health And How It Compares To That Of Other States

Are you looking for information on how Connecticut is meeting health targets, or how the state’s health compares to that of other states?


For Connecticut-specific information, one source is the Healthy Connecticut 2020 Performance Dashboard.  The dashboard, launched by the Department of Public Health in January,  shows how the state is doing according to various health improvement measures, such as (1) maternal, infant, and child health; (2) chronic disease prevention and control; and (3) health systems.


The dashboard displays:

1. population indicators that “identify the health status of Connecticut residents for which DPH, other state and local agencies, and community partners all share responsibility;”
2. performance measures that indicate whether DPH interventions that affect those indicators are working; and
3. strategies “that DPH and its partners are using to improve health to meet targets for improvement.”

For information comparing health information across states, one place to look is the Kaiser Family Foundation’s State Health Facts website.  It contains various tables comparing states in health-related areas such as health status, budgets, and insurance coverage.
 
For example, the website reports that in 2013, 15.5% of Connecticut adults were smokers.  This was lower than the national average of 18.1%, and lower than the other New England states, which ranged from 16.2% (New Hampshire) to 20.2% (Maine).