Monday, Jan. 30, 2023 | 11:39 a.m.
Some 12.5% of people in Clark County do not have health insurance, compared to a national average of 9.4%, according to a report issued today by the Southern Nevada Health District.
The report is part of a plan outlining health priorities for the county in the next three to five years: chronic disease, access to care, public transportation and health care funding.
“Creating and maintaining a healthy and safe Southern Nevada is a collective undertaking that will require a continued commitment to serve and support each other,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, the district health officer, said in the report.
The plan “represents a path toward measurable improvement for the health of Southern Nevada’s community,” he said.
The study was a collaboration among health care providers, nonprofit organizations, academic figures and government agencies, according to health officials.
The plan “presents realistic timelines for improving public health in Southern Nevada,” Leguen said.
Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes affect one in six adults in the nation and can be caused by factors such as tobacco use, according to health officials.
Some 14.4% of people in the United States used tobacco in 2021, while 15.5% of adults in Nevada used tobacco, the report said.
The heart disease mortality rate for people 35 and older was 386 per 1000,000 in Clark County from 2018 to 2020, according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
The national average was 319.5 per 100,000 in the same time period, the center said.
Nevada also lags in public health funding, with $72 invested per person in 2021 as opposed to a national average of $116, according to the Health District report.
