Minnesota is Healthiest State in the USA
Henry Fischer

May 1, 2008

Minnesota beat out Vermont for the title of healthiest state in nation, according to “Health Care State Rankings 2008: Health Care Across America,” published by CQ Press, the reference and textbook publishing division of Congressional Quarterly.

Following Minnesota are New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts.  At the opposite end of the rankings, Mississippi falls to last place.  Joining Mississippi on the less healthy end of the rankings scale are Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Florida.

The Healthiest State designation is awarded based on 21 factors that reflect each state’s access to health care providers, emphasis on preventative care, affordability of health care, and the general health of its population.  Ratings for each of the 21 factors are processed through a formula that measures how a state compares to the national average for a given category.

Positive factors include: number of beds in community hospitals per 100,000 population, percent of children aged 19-35 months who are immunized, and safety belt usage rate. Negative factors include: births of low birth weight as a percent of all births, teenage birth rate, percent of mothers receiving late or no prenatal care, age-adjusted death rate, infant mortality rate, age-adjusted death rate by malignant neoplasms, age-adjusted death rate by suicide, average annual family coverage health insurance premium, percent of population not covered by health insurance, percent of children not covered by health insurance, estimated rate of new cancer cases, AIDS rate, sexually transmitted disease rate, percent of population lacking access to primary care, percent of adults who are binge drinkers, percent of adults who smoke, percent of adults obese, and percent of adults who do not exercise. 

For details about the state rankings, click here.

This item came from the IN Partnership eNewsletter from the St. Cloud Area Economic Development Partnership May, 2008 Issue.

Henry Fischer, who works as the Development Director for the St. Cloud Area Economic Development Partnership (www.scapartnership.com), can be reached at (320) 656-3815 or he can be emailed at h.fischer@scapartnerhsip.com.

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