Insurance Is Up, But Many Wisconsinites Still Cannot Afford Care
State report finds 1 in 10 adults skipped needed care and low-income residents fare far worse overall healthwise.
A doctor’s office. John K. Wilson/WPR
The health of Wisconsinites is being influenced by rising costs for health care and basic needs, according to a new state report.
The 2025 Wisconsin State Health Assessment found just under 1 in 5 Wisconsinites reported having poor or fair physical health. But among people with the lowest household incomes, that rate was closer to 1 in 3 residents.
The report, which is conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services every five years, looks at how factors like income, housing and the environment affect health outcomes in the state.
DHS State Health Officer Paula Tran said in a press release that the report highlights that “good health is not as simple as making ‘the right’ choices or going to the doctor alone.”
“The real story is that, for far too many people across Wisconsin, making the healthy choice or adopting a healthy behavior is far too difficult, or out of reach entirely,” Tran said in the statement.
Just over 10 percent of adults did not see a doctor when they needed to because they couldn’t afford it, according to the report. It’s the same rate reported during the last health assessment in 2020.
Maureen Busalacchi, past president of the Wisconsin Public Health Association, said many factors influence the affordability of health care, including wages and housing costs. But she said the persistent challenge highlights the need for more investment in public health efforts as a state.
“We haven’t had the will to make the changes that we need to make,” she said.
Roughly 94 percent of Wisconsinites had health insurance as of 2023, which was similar to the rate reported in 2020.
The rate of insurance coverage was highest in households with higher incomes. Less than 86 percent of residents with household incomes below the federal poverty level had health insurance in 2023, compared to 96 percent of households at or above 200 percent of the poverty line.
Richelle Andrae, associate director of government affairs for the Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association, said Wisconsin’s insured rates are higher than the national averages.
But she said the report highlights that there are many more barriers for state residents to access the care they need, including a shortage of providers around the state.
“A lot of people just can’t find where to use that coverage,” Andrae said. “Or they have so many hurdles and complexities with their coverage … maybe that insurance doesn’t get you as far as it used to.”
The 2025 assessment also highlighted the continued demand for mental health care in Wisconsin.
It found around 1 in 6 adults reported their mental health was poor for 14 days or more in the past month. Young adults and people with the lowest household income had the highest rates of poor mental health.
Andrae said the state’s federally-qualified health centers, which provide care for underserved populations, have seen this need first hand.
“Year-over-year, they are really growing significantly in their behavioral health and substance use disorder services due to a lot of the demand that’s noted in this report,” she said.
Andrae said Wisconsin won’t be able to move the needle on improving access to care until further investments are made in expanding the state’s health care workforce, both through training and incentive programs.
Report: 1 in 10 Wisconsinites skipped needed health care due to cost was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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