Nearly 134,000 DeKalb County residents, about 22 percent, have no health insurance, recent data shows.
The county of more than 700,000 people – one of the largest in the state – falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to uninsured rates in Georgia.
Without insurance, people often go months or years without getting the medical care they need — suffering from diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses that can turn deadly if not treated.
The annual County Health Rankings & Roadmaps project was created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The study provides a snapshot of a community's overall health. It looks at health measures, such as rates of obesity and smoking, access to medical care, long commute times and sexually transmitted diseases.
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