The State of Your Health - U.S. Health Reports & Rankings

The State Of Your Health
...May Depend on the Health of Your State

The United States spends more per person on health care than any other industrialized nation. How does this spending reflect in our health care?

The annual American's Health: State Health Rankings are the closest we can come to a report card for how well our money is making us. For Minnesota and New Hampshire the news is good. They tied for the top rank. South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi didn't make as good a showing.

How did your state do? Here are the results...

2006 Overall Health Score Rankings By State :

Rank	State	Score
1	Minnesota	21.2
2	Vermont	20.5
3	New Hampshire	18.9
4	Hawaii	17.9
5	Connecticut	17.2
6	Utah	16.3
7	Massachusetts	15.3
8	North Dakota	15.0
9	Maine	13.7
10	Wisconsin	13.3
11	Iowa	12.5
12	Nebraska	12.4
13	Rhode Island	11.4
14	New Jersey	11.0
15	Washington	10.2
16	Colorado	8.9
17	Kansas	7.9
18	South Dakota	7.5
19	Idaho	6.5
20	Oregon	6.5
21	Virginia	5.7
22	Montana	4.9
23	California	4.7
24	Wyoming	4.7
25	Illinois	3.7
26	Ohio	3.7
27	Michigan	2.3
28	Pennsylvania	1.8
29	New York	1.1
30	Delaware	-0.6
31	Alaska	-0.8
32	Maryland	-2.7
33	Indiana	-3.7
34	Arizona	-4.0
35	Missouri	-4.1
36	North Carolina	-4.3
37	Texas	-4.7
38	Nevada	-8.4
39	Kentucky	-10.1
40	New Mexico	-10.4
41	Florida	-10.6
42	Georgia	-11.7
43	West Virginia	-12.8
44	Oklahoma	-11.3
45	Alabama	-14.8
46	Arkansas	-16.1
47	Tennessee	-16.2
48	South Carolina	-16.4
49	Mississippi	-19.9
50	Louisiana	-20.4

*Scores indicate the percentage a state is above or below the national norm.

What Do These Ranks Mean
The report looked at a number of health measures over the last 14 years. They took into account how many people were still smokers - more than 20% of Americans admit that they have not kicked the habit - and several other health care and habits that tend to lead to a long and healthy life:

Prevalence of smoking

Motor vehicle deaths

Violent crime

Risk for heart disease

High school graduation

Children in poverty

Adequacy of prenatal care

Lack of heath insurance

Financial support for public health care

Occupational fatalities

Limited activity days

Heart-related deaths

Cancer deaths

Infectious disease cases

Total deaths per 100,000 population

Infant mortality

Premature death

What Does This All Mean
These rankings are tools for public health and government officials. Like all statistics, they are pictures of large populations - not snapshots of individuals. If you live in one of the states at the bottom of the list, you may see your 150th birthday. On the other hand, if you are a resident of one of the top ten states - you can still get injured in a car accident while not wearing a seatbelt!

Don't pack your bags and move, but do contact your public officials and ask what can be done to improve these statistics. That is why the report was labeled, A Call to Action for People and their Communities.

SOURCES:
America's Health: State Health Rankings

Also see:

U.S. Health Scorecard in Comparison to Other Nations

More about the state of the nation's health around the Web:

SICKO The Movie

AFL - CIO What's Wrong with America's Health Care

The World Health Report

also see related feature -> U.S. Health Care - It's the Price, Stupid