The average American spends nearly $14,600 per year on personal healthcare, according to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. But are all state healthcare systems created equal?
To determine where Americans receive the best and worst healthcare, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with Missouri ranking near the middle of the list.
“Health care has two crucial components, cost and quality. The best health care in the nation isn’t helpful if it bankrupts the people who try to get it, and cheap health care isn’t worth paying for if it provides subpar or ineffective treatment,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Therefore, the best states for health care are those that make high-quality care affordable, on top of providing many options for doctors and making insurance easily accessible.”
What makes one state’s healthcare better than another’s?
To determine where Americans receive the best and worst healthcare, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: Cost, Access and Outcomes.
Experts evaluated those dimensions using 44 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the best health care at the most reasonable cost.
Finally, they determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score, and used the resulting scores to determine the final rank.
How does Missouri’s healthcare rank against other states?
Missouri ranks 24th for healthcare, according to WalletHub’s study. It scored 55.43 out of 100, ranking 15th for cost, 16th for access and 40th for outcomes.
Which state has the worst healthcare?
Mississippi was deemed the state with the worst healthcare, scoring 43.2 out of 100. It saw low scores for each of the three categories, even placing last for “outcomes.”
10 states with the worst healthcare
- Mississippi
- Alaska
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Texas
- West Virginia
- Arkansas
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Florida
What is the best state for health care in the country?
The state with the best health care, according to the study, is New Hampshire.
The New England state is the best state for health care, with the fourth-lowest out-of-pocket medical spending in the country. Residents also have the lowest average monthly health insurance premium, at around $470.
“The Granite State has the fifth-highest nurses per capita and sixth-highest physician assistants per capita, a testament to the strength of its frontline healthcare workforce,” WalletHub writes. “People with immediate but less dire issues can also benefit from the fact that New Hampshire has the most urgent care centers per capita that are certified by the Urgent Care Association of America.”
Top 10 states for health care in the US
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Minnesota
- Iowa
- Massachusetts
- Maine
- Colorado
- North Dakota
- Wisconsin
- South Dakota