Texas drops in health rankings
San Antonio Business Journal
The Lone Star State ranks 46th in the country in terms of overall health of the population, according to the 2008 report from the Minnetonka, Minn.-based United Health Foundation. That’s down nine places from the 2007 report.
Among the issues hampering Texas are increases in childhood poverty (up 14 percent in the last year), prevalence of smoking (up 8 percent) and a high rate of uninsured residents (roughly 25 percent of the population).
Moreover, Texas ranks lower for health determinants than for health outcomes, suggesting that overall healthiness is likely to remain low in coming years.
Texas does have a few things working in its favor. There’s a low prevalence of binge drinking (15 percent of the population) and both the death rate due to cancer and infant mortality rate are relatively low, the report shows.
There are also significant disparities in access to health care between the races. According to the report, nearly 30 percent of African Americans and 56 percent of Hispanics lack health insurance compared with 17 percent of whites.
Just below Texas in the health rankings are Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana, in that order. The healthiest of the states is Vermont, followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah to round out the top five.
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