Best and worst states for healthcare REVEALED: Oklahoma, West Virginia and Mississippi rank bottom for quality and access while Massachusetts, Hawaii and New Hampshire top the table
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If you need to go to the Emergency Room or get an operation, then you probably don’t want to be in Oklahoma.
The state ranks worst for healthcare alongside Mississippi and West Virginia, according to a report by the left-leaning Commonwealth Fund.
The report, which covered 2021, looked at seven key measures, including affordability, quality of services and access. The researchers also considered reproductive care by looking at infant deaths and maternal mortality by state – though the report was carried out before Roe V Wade was overturned, restricting abortion access for millions.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts, Hawaii and New Hampshire ranked among the top three states for healthcare, according to the criteria.
The above shows the rank achieved by each state, according to the Commonwealth Fund
Researchers said the Covid pandemic had influenced the rankings because the virus had pushed many hospitals to ‘breaking point’.
Other factors such as a lack of healthcare insurance and higher poverty rates in some states also played a role.
The report covered the period to the end of 2021, when Roe v. Wade was still in place and abortion had not been restricted.
Rounding out the bottom five were Texas and Arkansas.
Out of the ten states at the bottom of the leaguetable, nine were Republican led with one — Louisiana — having split control.
The states at the bottom of the table were among those hardest hit by Covid, the report said.
Each saw a rise in its premature death rate, or the number of deaths before the age of 75 that ordinarily could have been prevented via public health measures or easier access to healthcare.
This was largely driven by Covid, although there were also upticks in fatalities from substance abuse, diabetes and cancer.
The states at the bottom of the rankings also tended to have a higher proportion of residents without health insurance coverage.
The Federal Government did expand health insurance coverage during the pandemic, but in some states coverage remained low. In Texas, which had the lowest healthcare coverage in the nation, nearly one in four did not have health insurance.
For the best states, these had stronger healthcare systems at the start of the pandemic the report said that were more able to respond to the emergency.
More residents in these states were covered by healthcare insurance.
The above graph shows the proportion of people who do not have healthcare insurance by state. It also highlights the states that have and have not expanded Medicaid to make insurance more accessible
In their conclusion, the report’s authors said: ‘Overall, states that entered the pandemic with stronger healthcare systems fared better.
‘The Covid pandemic pushed the US healthcare system to its limit and amplified persistent gaps among states as they grappled with the coronavirus and its emerging variants.’
To help improve US healthcare, they urged states to draw up pandemic preparedness plans for the next disease outbreak.
They also called on lawmakers to make health insurance more accessible as well as treatment for addiction.
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