The 10 Best States for Health Care
Hawaii, Iowa and Minnesota topped WalletHub's new ranking
of the best states for health care. The ranking took into account 35
metrics in the categories of cost, accessibility and health outcomes.
Among access-to-care metrics, the highest percent of
insured adults (ages 18 to 64) live in Massachusetts, the District of
Columbia, Vermont, Hawaii and Minnesota. The lowest live in Georgia, New
Mexico, Nevada, Florida and Texas.
As for outcome metrics, like lowest cancer rate, New
Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and Utah ranked in the top five, while
New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Delaware and Kentucky ranked in the
bottom five.
U.S. News ranks its own Best States for Health Care, in which Hawaii also stands at No. 1.
Health care
concerns, though always present, have been thrust into the national
conversation even more this year amid legislative attempts to reform
former President Barack Obama's health care law.
The Senate recently failed to pass a health care bill.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and John
McCain (R-Ariz.) voted against the Republicans' attempt to overhaul the
Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund found that the U.S. has the worst health care
system compared to other high-income countries. The U.S. ranked lowest
for health outcomes despite outspending its peers, according to the
report.
But in its own health care analysis, the Kaiser Family
Foundation discovered the U.S. system has made progress, especially with
"its ability to promote health and provide high-quality care, with some
recent improvement in the accessibility of that care and a slowing of
spending growth."
Americans typically spend approximately $10,000 each year
on personal health care, and that number is expected to rise, according
to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
WalletHub's top 10 states for health care are listed below, and a complete list can be found here.
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