Are you feeling overwhelmed or maybe alone when it comes to health-care costs?
Personal-finance company WalletHub recently released its report on states where people spend the most and least on health care.
“To identify where residents spend the largest share of their earnings on health care, WalletHub analyzed the costs of five key health care components in all 50 states, then combined those expenses and compared them with each state’s median household income.”
Florida ranked pretty well in the report, coming in 44th on health-care spending.
Here is the breakdown from the report.
States where people spend the most, least on health care in the US
“Health care costs in the U.S. have steadily increased over time,” WalletHub said.
“Americans’ average annual out-of-pocket health care spending has risen from $811 to $1,514 over the past two decades, outpacing inflation.”
WalletHub identified where residents spend the largest share of their income on health care.
Top 10 states listed by WalletHub on the cost of health care as a share of median monthly household income:
Florida ranked in the bottom for health-care spending
If you have to rank at the bottom, how much you spend on health care is probably a good time to do so.
Bottom 10 states listed by WalletHub on the cost of health care as a share of median monthly household income:
Florida health-care costs by the numbers
WalletHub found health-care spending in Florida (with 1 being the most expensive):
“Sharp increases in health care costs in recent years have made it difficult for some people to seek essential care,” said Chip Lupo, WalletHub analyst.
“Even in states with lower-than-average health care prices, residents’ incomes may not be enough to keep up with the cost, especially since virtually every part of Americans’ budgets have been impacted by inflation over the past few years.”
WalletHub tips to save on health care
WalletHub offered seven tips to save on health-care costs:
Methodology used by WalletHub in health-care rankings
“In order to determine the states that spend the most and least on health care, WalletHub analyzed the prices of five components, including the costs of doctor, dentist and optometrist visits, plus the prices of ibuprofen and Lipitor, across the 50 states.
“We summed up the individual costs of the components and adjusted the resulting figure to the median monthly income in each state, then used these results to rank-order our sample.”
Cheryl McCloud is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Think you spend too much on health care? See where Florida ranks in US
Reporting by Cheryl McCloud, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
