Value for money? Healthcare differences across the US revealed


ByDr. Tim Sandle
DIGITAL JOURNAL
July 30, 2024

File photo: British nurses demonstrated in London for higher pay. - © AFP

The US healthcare system differs to many around the world, with very little state provision. The market-based system mean that the typical citizen spends nearly $13,500 per year on health care.

Do those who spend this level get value for money? The personal-finance website WalletHub has released a report on the States With the Best & Worst Health Care in 2024, to identify where people receive the highest-quality services at the best prices.

To derive at the statistics, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 44 key measures of healthcare cost, accessibility and outcomes.

The data set ranged from the average monthly insurance premium to physicians per capita to the share of the population with health insurance.

This reveals the best states for healthcare to be:

1. Minnesota

2. Rhode Island

3. South Dakota

4. Iowa

5. New Hampshire

6. Massachusetts

7. Utah

8. Vermont

9. Maine

10. ColoradoThe surrge in flu, RSV and corona virus cases has many pediatric healthcare workers concerned. Sourse – SPS-JHSV 14, Public Domain (CC0 1.0)

At the other end of the scale, the worst performing states for healthcare are:

42. Florida

43. Louisiana

44. Arkansas

45. Texas

46. Alaska

47. Oklahoma

48. Georgia

49. West Virginia

50. Alabama

51. Mississippi

There are some interesting variances across the fifty-one outcomes. For instance, New Hampshire has the lowest average monthly health-insurance premium, which is 2.5 times lower than in West Virginia, the highest.

Looking at another measure, California has the highest retention rate for medical residents, which is 4.5 times higher than in the District of Columbia, the lowest.

Taking the tragedy of infant death, North Dakota has the lowest number of infant mortalities (per 1,000 live births), which is 3.4 times lower than in Mississippi, the highest.

On the subject of self-harm and suicide, West Virginia has the lowest share of at-risk adults without a routine doctor visit in the past two years, which is 1.9 times lower than in New Mexico, the highest.

These measures show how health-related outcomes vary by both state and by topic, illustrating the complexity as well as the challenges for healthcare provision across the 250 million people living in the U.S.