Oct 22, 2024 - Health

Big gender gap seen in health center visits

Maya Goldman

Illustration of a pattern of stethoscopes. — Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Women visit community health centers at almost double the rate of men, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compiled from 2022.

Why it matters: The report adds to the evidence that women are likelier to be proactive about their health — and their family's health — than men.

Still, while women tend to live longer than men, they do so in worse health, research shows.

The big picture: About 445 out of every 1,000 adult women visited federally qualified health centers in 2022, the CDC found.

But just 249 out of every 1,000 men went to a health clinic that year.
The rates are based on a sample of more than 4.6 million visits to 64 health centers in every state.

Federally qualified health centers get government funding to provide care in medically underserved areas. The clinics care for patients regardless of their ability to pay.

18% of health center patients are uninsured and 62% have public insurance like Medicare or Medicaid, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers.

Zoom out: Most health center visits in 2022 (61.4%) were related to specific diseases, while 22% of visits were dedicated to investigating new symptoms, per CDC.

Only 12.6% of health center visits were for health screenings, which can detect illnesses before symptoms appear.

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Big gender gap seen in health center visits

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