Healthy States

Posted by admin in Health Care on Dec 5th, 2008 | no responses

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Rankings draw news, and so the America's Health Rankings are back in the news, with the 2008 edition. Look into the particulars and you'll find some surprises: high school graduation rates are an indicator of health–at least as defined by the report–as is the lack of health disparities across racial groups. (This latter indicator would seem to favor homogeneous states–and sure enough, check the lists below.)

The top five states:

• Vermont
• Hawaii
• New Hampshire
• Minnesota
• Utah

The bottom five

• Texas
• Tennessee
• South Carolina
• Mississippi
• Louisiana

Louisiana gets high marks for having few "mental health days." Laissez les bons temps roulez, I guess.

Once you get done looking at these rankings, be sure to check out the Index of Health Ownership, written by State House Call contributor John Graham. Comparing the two indexes might be an interesting exercise.

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