2017’s Best & Worst States for Health Care

From Wallet Hub, Aug 7, 2017

More Americans have access to health care today, but cost and service quality can vary widely from state to state. The overall health of the population, more advanced medical equipment and a general lack of awareness regarding the best types of treatment, for instance, can all drive up costs. Today, the average American spends nearly $10,000 per year on personal health care, according to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and that figure is expected to increase over time.

But higher costs don’t necessarily translate to better results. In its latest analysis of global health care quality, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that the U.S. remains outperformed by several other wealthy nations on several measures, such as health coverage, life expectancy and disease burden, which measures longevity and quality of life. However, the U.S. has progressed in others, particularly “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.”

To determine where Americans receive the best and worst health care in the U.S., WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 35 measures of cost, accessibility and outcome.

read … Health Care

Hawaii

• Rank -- 1st
• Score -- 67.36
• Cost – 3rd
• Access – 42nd
• Outcomes – 1st
• Physician Medicare Acceptance – 51st
• % of Insured Adults – 4th
• % of Insured Children – 4th
• Lowest Hearth Disease Rate – 1st