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 2ndoverall 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 19thto 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/ |
http://data.bls.gov/oes/search.jsp?data_tool=OES |
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