Texas ranks lowest in nation on insured adults & children
The personal-finance website WalletHub recently released its report on 2018’s best and worst states for health care and Texas doesn't fare well in the area of insured children and adults.
According to the study released in early August, Texas ranks 51st in the nation on the percentage of insured adults, 49th in percentage of insured children, 45th in physicians per capita, 45th in percentage of adults with no dental visit in past year and 43rd in physician Medicare-acceptance rate.
The state did rank fair to decent in some areas though. Texas ranked fifth in percentage of medical residents retained, ninth in average monthly insurance premium and 24th in percentage of at-risk adults with no routine doctor visit in past two years.
In order to determine the best and worst states for health care, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: Cost, access and outcomes.
According to the CDC, 88.1 percent of the population has a regular place to go for medical care. But the cost and quality of service can vary widely between states and even counties.
The overall health of the population, more advanced medical equipment and major insurers – including Blue Cross, Aetna and Humana – pulling out of many state-run insurance exchanges – leaving residents of some counties with few, if any, options for coverage – can all cause the cost of healthcare to rise, according to the study.
Today, the average American spends more than $10,000 per year on personal health care, according to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That’s about 17.9 percent of the U.S. GDP. But the higher costs don’t necessarily translate to better results. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the U.S. lags behind several other wealthy nations on several measures, such as health coverage, life expectancy and disease burden, which measures longevity and quality of life. However, the U.S. has improved in giving more healthcare access for people in worse health, and healthcare cost growth has slowed somewhat.
The full WalletHub report can be seen on their website.
