Arkansas Health Insurance

How Healthy is your State?

Arkansas is 40th this year; it was 44th in 2008, according to United Health Foundation's 2009 Study.

Strengths include a low prevalence of binge drinking at 11.5 percent of the population
A high rate of high school graduation with 80.4 percent of incoming ninth graders who graduate within four years and moderate geographic disparity within the state at 10.4 percent.

Challenges include a high prevalence of smoking at 22.3 percent of the population
A high prevalence of obesity at 29.5 percent of the population
Limited availability of primary care physicians with 98.5 primary care physicians per 100,000 population

In the past year, the rate of preventable hospitalizations decreased from 92.7 to 90.2 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.
In the past five years, the prevalence of obesity increased from 25.2 percent to 29.5 percent of the population.
In the past five years, the rate of deaths from cardiovascular disease declined from 375.4 to 333.7 deaths per 100,000 population.
In the past ten years, the prevalence of smoking decreased from 25.9 percent to 22.3 percent of the population.