The average American spends nearly $14,600 per year on personal healthcare, according to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. But are all state healthcare systems created equal?
To determine where Americans receive the best and worst healthcare, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with Indiana ranking at No. 22.
“Health care has two crucial components, cost and quality. The best health care in the nation isn’t helpful if it bankrupts the people who try to get it, and cheap health care isn’t worth paying for if it provides subpar or ineffective treatment,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Therefore, the best states for health care are those that make high-quality care affordable, on top of providing many options for doctors and making insurance easily accessible.”
What makes one state’s healthcare better than another’s? See methodology
To determine where Americans receive the best and worst healthcare, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: Cost, Access and Outcomes.
Experts evaluated those dimensions using 44 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best health care at the most reasonable cost.
Finally, they determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score, and used the resulting scores to determine the final rank.
Where does Indiana’s healthcare rank against others?
At No. 22, Indiana’s healthcare is in the top 50%, according to WalletHub’s study. It scored 56.24 out of 100. Indiana was eighth in cost, 20th in access and 36th in outcomes.
Other Indiana healthcare stats:
Which state has the worst healthcare?
Mississippi was deemed the state with the worst healthcare, scoring 43.2 out of 100. It saw low scores for each of the three categories, even placing last for “outcomes.”
10 states with the worst healthcare
What is the best state healthcare in the country?
Roughly 1,415 miles away is the state with the best health care: New Hampshire.
The New England state is the best state for health care, with the fourth-lowest out-of-pocket medical spending in the country. Residents also have the lowest average monthly health insurance premium, at around $470.
“The Granite State has the fifth-highest nurses per capita and sixth-highest physician assistants per capita, a testament to the strength of its frontline healthcare workforce,” WalletHub writes. “People with immediate but less dire issues can also benefit from the fact that New Hampshire has the most urgent care centers per capita that are certified by the Urgent Care Association of America.”
Top 10 state healthcare in the US
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Where does Indiana’s healthcare rank?
Reporting by Samantha Neely, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
