After a year in second place, Massachusetts is once again
the best state for your health in the 2013 Our Health
Policy Matters rankings.
In first place in 2011, Massachusetts dropped to second last
year behind Connecticut. It edged out Connecticut this year based on the rankings of all fifty states in a
combination of seven national source rankings and/or spending categories.
Here are the top ten states, with the change from last
year’s ranking in parentheses.
1. Massachusetts (+1). Among the seven components of the rankings, Massachusetts
was only 4th in the Healthy State rankings, and 11th in
the Kids Count health rankings. But it
earns its top rank overall because of consistently high placements in five other
health care rankings.
2. Connecticut (-1). Last year’s winner, Connecticut ranks 2nd
overall in the Kids Count health rankings and in the percentage of residents
with employer-based private insurance. But
it is only in the middle of the pack (20th) in total number of
high-quality hospital programs.
3. New York (+3). Never highly ranked in the healthy
state rankings (18th this year), New York has jumped from 19th
to 3rd in two years on the strength of its hospitals, and good
access to care for both younger and older residents.
4. Vermont (+3). Vermont tops the healthy state
rankings and is 4th in the Kids Count health rankings. With an earlier investment in universal
health care for its residents offsetting its lack of high-quality hospital
programs, it may go higher in the future.
5. Maine. (+3). Maine tops three individual
categories – the Kids Count health rankings, Medicaid access, and primary care
access – accounting for its three-place gain this year.
6. Minnesota (-2). Minnesota scores highly in the Healthy
State rankings, and also has high-quality hospital programs and a
highly-insured population.Wisconsin (+6).
7. Wisconsin owes its improvement in the ranking to healthy kids (3rd)
and solid performances in most other categories. But it lags a bit in the Healthy State and
primary care access rankings.
8. Utah (0). Utah scores well in the Healthy State
rankings (7th), but less well in the Kids Count health rankings (14th). It also has a high percentage of its
population covered by employer-based insurance.
9. Washington (+7). Like Wisconsin, Washington made
a big move into the top ten this year on the strength of a solid Kids Count
health ranking (6th).
10. Maryland (+2).
Maryland is in the top ten in the Kids Count ranking and in the
percentage of its population with employer-based insurance.
In individual categories, Maine had the most first place
rankings – the Kids Count health ranking, the primary care access ranking, and
a tie for first in Medicaid access. California (19th overall, up 3
places from last year) placed first in the number of high quality hospital
programs and tied for first in the Medicaid access rankings. Vermont topped the Healthy State rankings and
tied for first in Medicaid access. New
Hampshire (11th overall, after a 4th place showing last
year) placed first in employer-based health insurance.
And Florida (34th this year, down one place from
last year) was first in community Medicare spending.
These rankings are the last before some significant Obamacare
changes go into effect next year. For example, Vermont (ranked 4th),
Maine (5th), Wisconsin (7th), and Rhode Island (12th)
have all announced plans to cut their Medicaid rolls to encourage people to
enroll in the exchanges, according
to an article this week in Kaiser Health News. Next year’s rankings may be adjusted to take
into account insurance exchange enrollments in all the states.
Washington (9th), Delaware (18th), and
Oklahoma (43rd) were the biggest gainers this year. They all gained seven spots in the rankings. New
Jersey (13th) experienced the biggest drop – 10 places. Virginia (23rd)
lost nine places, and Pennsylvania (16th) and South Carolina (48th)
each lost eight.
Next week: the ten worst states for your health.
To see the full rankings of all fifty states, click here.
How These Rankings Are
Developed:
OHPM combines seven rankings of the states to create this
Top Ten.
Two of the rankings among the most highly-regarded public
health or prevention-focused rankings – the United Health Foundation/APHA/Partnership
for Prevention America’s Health Rankings and the Annie
E. Casey Kids Count state health rankings.
The most recent America’s Health (Healthy State) Rankings were published
in December 2012, and the most recent Kids Count health rankings were released
in June 2013.
Because prevention and public health account for 50 percent
of the gains in life expectancy over the last century, these two rankings
account for 50 percent of the weight in the OHPM rankings.
The other five components of the ranking account for the
other 50 percent, and are related to health care access and quality. This year, they include the number of nurse
practitioners and physician assistants per capita in the state (as a measure of
the strength of the state’s primary care system), the percentage of state
residents with employer-based private insurance and with access to Medicaid (as
a measure of the availability of third-party payments for health services in
general for the under 65 population), community-based Medicare spending (as a
measure of the availability of elder health services), and, from the 2013 US New and World
Report Hospital Rankings, the total number of high quality hospital
specialty programs in the state (as a measure of the availability of specialty
care for all chronic diseases and conditions).
To see the full rankings of all fifty states, click here.
Source links:
http://kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/medicaid-enrollment-as-a-of-pop-fy09/
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http://data.bls.gov/oes/search.jsp?data_tool=OES
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