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Tough competition for healthy state honors

Article

News brief.

 

State Scan

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

New Hampshire
23.0%
Minnesota
22.3
Utah
17.1
Massachusetts
16.2
Hawaii
15.0
Vermont
14.7
Colorado
14.6
Wisconsin
13.1
Florida
11.0%
Alabama
11.7
Nevada
11.8
Arkansas
13.7
West Virginia
14.2
South Carolina
15.3
Louisiana
18.4
Mississippi
18.8

Source: UnitedHealth Group
State Health Ranking—2000

 

Getting better—and falling behind

Change in score (percentage points)
Reason
Rank
2000
1999
Arkansas
+5.5
Unemployment, violent crime on-the-job deaths down
46
50
Hawaii
+4.2
Violent crime and motor vehicle deaths down, prenatal care up
5
11
Delaware
+3.1
On-the-job and motor vehicle deaths down, high school graduation rate up
35
39
Montana
+2.7
Prevalence of smoking and motor vehicle deaths down
27
30
South Dakota
+2.4
Prevalence of smoking and on-the-job injuries down
19
24
Indiana
-2.9
Percentage of uninsured and on-the-job injuries and deaths up
26
20
Wisconsin
-2.6
Percentage of uninsured and level of infectious disease up
8
4
Illinois
-2.5
Prevalence of smoking, percentage of uninsured and on-the-job injuries up
29
26
Wyoming
-2.4
Prevalence of smoking, motor vehicle deaths, mortality rate up
31
29
Ohio
-1.7
Prevalence of smoking and risk of heart disease (obesity, hypertension sedentary lifestyle) up, support for public health down
23
22

 

Daniel Moskowitz. Tough competition for healthy state honors. Business and Health 2001;1:16.

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