Massachusetts leads nation in health scores

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(The Center Square) – Massachusetts leads the nation with the highest health scores among residents while Louisiana is at the bottom, according to a new report.

The Suzuki Law Firm, a practice in Tucson, Ariz., specializing in criminal defense and personal injury cases, analyzed a variety of factors for its report. Among them were chronic disease and mental illness rates, access to healthcare, lifestyle habits and health outcomes to determine health scores.

Massachusetts came out with an overall health score of 86.94 out of 100, the highest in the nation. Louisiana landed in last place with a score of 11.77 among the various determining factors, accounting for a 75.17 point difference between the healthiest and least healthy state, according to the report's findings.

New Hampshire (78.28), Hawaii (77.33), Minnesota (76.51) and Connecticut (75.79) were in the top five. Report writers pointed out that six of the top 10 states were located in the northeast United States, drawing on a regional trend.

“The index represents a clear indication of a broad regional divide, not just the illustration of a state-by-state differential,” the report authors wrote.

Eight states in the bottom 10 are located in the South, including Mississippi at 24.20, Tennessee at 19.63, Alabama at 18.79 and Arkansas at 13.24.

One of the measures identified in curating a score is life expectancy. Hawaii led the nation with a life expectancy of 80 years, followed by Massachusetts with 79.8. West Virginia recorded the lowest life expectancy among all states in the nation at 72.2.

“A state can perform strongly in one area while struggling in another, making the combination of the four categorical pillars key to understanding a state’s place in the overall standings,” the report’s authors wrote.

The report also highlighted adult obesity and physical inactivity as an indicator of the divide between low and high-ranked states. The lowest rate of adult obesity is 25% in Colorado, compared to 41.4% in West Virginia.

Adult physical inactivity ranges from 15.6% in Colorado to 30.6% in Mississippi. Authors of the report also analyzed smoking rates with a range of 5.7% in Utah to 20.8% in West Virginia.

The study monitored access to healthcare among adults throughout the country. New Hampshire ranked first among access to healthcare with 94.69 points followed by Vermont with 90.82 and Massachusetts with 88.78.

Texas ranked last in healthcare accessibility and environment with only 3.27 points. Texas has a high uninsured population at 16.7%, compared to 8% in Massachusetts while primary care availability in 225 per 100,000 people in Texas compared to 400.2 for every 100,000 people in Massachusetts.

“Provider availability remains an important national challenge,” the authors wrote. The Health Resources and Services Administration "estimates that 92.3 million Americans live in areas featuring insufficient numbers of healthcare practitioners. And while the national supply of mental health providers increased 5%, shortages remain severe in rural areas.”

Authors of the report said states with the highest scores maintained balanced health profiles where access, outcomes, behaviors and mental health all received similarly high scores.

“The Suzuki State Health Index makes it clear that long-term population health depends not on one isolated measure, but on the combination of healthier behaviors, stronger outcomes, and the systems and environments supporting residents,” the report’s authors wrote.