For the fourth year in a row, Vermont takes the top spot as healthiest
state. Applauding the state's high rate of high school graduation and
low rate of uninsured population, the report also finds that Vermont is
not without its problems. Vermonters have a relatively high rate of cancer deaths and participate in binge drinking
more than most states (Wisconsiners binge drink the most, Tennesseans
the least). Vermont is in good company in the northeast with seven
states from the region making it into the top 10.
Second place goes to Hawaii, a regular contender for first place. Since
the ranking started in 1990, Hawaii has consistently ranked in the top
six states. Hawaiians enjoy low rates of obesity and smoking, but have high rates of binge drinking and low birth weight babies.
Louisiana and Mississippi are tied for the least healthy state and have
consistently been at the bottom of the list for the past 23 years. Both
states have low rates of binge drinking, but suffer from high rates of
occupational fatalities and children in poverty. These two states are in
the bottom five in about half of the 24 components that make up the
overall ranking, including high rates of chronic conditions like
sedentary lifestyle, obesity and diabetes.
These chronic conditions are also putting the entire nation's health
most at risk. Obesity alone is the leading cause of preventable death
and costs our nation about $200 billion each year. More than 66 million
adults are obese - that's more than one in four Americans. Colorado is
the least obese and least sedentary state, in contrast to Mississippi
which is the most obese and most sedentary.
"It is important to note that we are living longer, but not necessarily
better," says Jane Pennington, spokesperson from the United Health
Foundation, the group responsible for the report. "Despite improvements,
we still have unhealthy behavior that threatens our health status. It
continues to be disappointing that we are seeing a rise in chronic
illness. It doesn't have to be that way. That is the alarm that we want
to sound."
Although smoking in the U.S. has been decreasing recently, more than 45
million Americans still smoke, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Utah has the lowest percent of its population
smoking and Kentucky has the highest.
"People should care about this report," says Dr. Anthony Shih, executive
vice president for Programs at the Commonwealth Fund. "It is clear that
where you live matters in terms of overall health and it should
motivate action to improve."
States should be looking at their healthier neighbors for ways to improve.
"The relatively high performance of [fourth-ranked] Massachusetts -
where a law similar to the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2006 - may
hopefully motivate other states to participate in Medicaid expansion
and more aggressively implement the ACA within their own state.
Successful implementation will likely raise the performance of most
states," according to Shih.
By having programs and policies that support better health, states can
expect better rankings. If a state increases the tax on cigarettes or
bans smoking in public places, for example, the number of smokers in
that state should decrease, cutting deaths from cardiovascular disease
and cancer deaths.
The statistics show that states can improve their ranking. Vermont was
ranked 20 th in 1990, but steadily made improvements over the years
to get where it is now.
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