 Tough competition for healthy state honors 

By Daniel B. Moskowitz, Contributing Editor 

 America is getting healthier. So even a state that works hard at early detection   of cancer or increasing its public health budget may find it difficult to move   up in the rankings published each year by UnitedHealth Group, which in 1999   took over the project form ReliaStar Financial Services. Over the past decade,   health has improved in virtually all of the country, UnitedHealth analysts note,   with a falloff in the number of smokers and a 40 percent decrease in auto accident   deaths the biggest contributors. The rankings combine medical measures, such   as rates of infant mortality and heart disease, with underlying social behaviors   that affect health, such as the level of uninsurance in a state and the rate   of high school graduation.

The healthiestand least healthyplaces to live

Source: UnitedHealth Group
        State Health Ranking2000

  

Daniel Moskowitz. Tough competition for healthy state honors. 