Our Health Policy Matters

In a recent column, I wrote about the importance of public health spending in reducing the death rate.   What other public policy strategies also lead to a healthier state? Chart shows positve healthy state rank relationship to health spending, negative to business tax climate.   There are quite a few.   I compared several other state rankings with the most recent state health rankings published earlier this year. These included health care spending per capita, per enrollee Medicaid spending, Medicaid spending for people with disabilities, Medicaid spending on children, and state mental health agency spending.   I also looked at rankings in per capita income, household income, the percentage of people with private health insurance, and business tax climate.   It turns out that a higher state ranking in eight of the nine areas is related to a higher state health ranking.   In only one area – business tax climate – did a higher ranking predict a lower...

In a recent column, I wrote about the importance of public health spending in reducing the death rate.   What other public policy strategies also lead to a healthier state? Chart shows positve healthy state rank relationship to health spending, negative to business tax climate.   There are quite a few.   I compared several other state rankings with the most recent state health rankings published earlier this year. These included health care spending per capita, per enrollee Medicaid spending, Medicaid spending for people with disabilities, Medicaid spending on children, and state mental health agency spending.   I also looked at rankings in per capita income, household income, the percentage of people with private health insurance, and business tax climate.   It turns out that a higher state ranking in eight of the nine areas is related to a higher state health ranking.   In only one area – business tax climate – did a higher ranking predict a lo...