The infant mortality rate in 2000 was 6.6 per 1,000 live births, below the national rate of 7.3. There were 12,958 legal abortions in 1999, averaging 19 per 1,000 women. Death rates for chronic pulmonary diseases, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, accidents and adverse effects, motor vehicle accidents, homicide, and suicide were below their respective national rates in 1998. However, the death rate for heart diseases (272.7 per 100,000 population) rose above the national rate (258.2 per 100,000) in 2000. Some 20% of the population age 18 and older were smokers, and deaths from lung disease occurred at a rate of 63.2 per 100,000 population in 2000. HIV-related deaths occurred at a rate of 6.1 per 100,000 in 2000, slightly above the US rate of 5.3 in the same year. A total of 12,148 AIDS cases had been reported through 2001.
In 2001, Connecticut's 35 community hospitals had 8,041 beds and reported 360,007 admissions. In the same year, there were 45,744 total personnel working in Connecticut hospitals, of whom 10,252 were full-time registered nurses and 522 were full-time licensed practical nurses. Connecticut had 385 physicians per 100,000 population in 2000. Outstanding medical schools are those of Yale University and the University of Connecticut.
Hospital expenses in 2001 averaged $1,377.60 per day. Federal government grants to cover the Medicare and Medicaid services in 2001 totaled $1.7 billion; 516,359 enrollees received Medicare benefits that year. Most people in Connecticut are insured; 10.2% of the population went without insurance in 2002.