Health Buzz: The 10 Best States for Health Care

If you want to get the best health care, you might be better off living in one of these states, according to a new ranking.

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.

Overall Rank	State	‘Outcomes’ Rank
1	Hawaii	1
2	Iowa	13
2	Minnesota	8
4	New Hampshire	7
5	District of Columbia	37
6	Connecticut	5
7	South Dakota	24
8	Vermont	3
9	Massachusetts	2
10	Rhode Island	10

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