Health Center News

Where We Live Can Impact Our Health

Where you live may help determine how long you live, according to a new report. The Commonwealth Fund has ranked states according to measures of cost, insurance coverage and medical quality. No single state performed well across all categories, but some states far surpassed others. States in the Northeast and Upper Midwest often rank high in multiple areas, but the big winner was Hawaii, which ranked number one. At the bottom of the rankings was Mississippi (states with the lowest rankings tend to be concentrated in the South). The report estimates that if all states could do as well as the top states, 90,000 lives could be saved annually, 22 million additional adults and children would have health insurance and millions of older adults, diabetics and young children would have access to life-saving essential preventive care (like what you would find at a health center). You can read an article about the report here.