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States in New England top a new set of rankings,
while the South still lags.
If you want to be healthy, live in
The annual ranking looks at 22 indicators of
health, including everything from how many children receive recommended vaccinations, to obesity and smoking rates, to cancer deaths. (The foundation is
funded by the insurer UnitedHealth Group.)
Vermont ranked first this year thanks in part to
its low rate of obesity, high number of doctors and a low rate of child
poverty. New England in general sets a benchmark for the country, the report
found: All six
Eight of the 10 bottom-ranked states are from
the south, with
UnitedHealth Group Executive Vice President Dr.
Reed Tuckson says the report is meant to draw attention to public health
issues, particularly the twin challenges of smoking and obesity. While the
smoking rate has decreased in the past 20 years, nearly one in five Americans
still smoke. More than one-quarter of American adults suffer from obesity, a
condition that the report estimated will cost $344 billion in annual health
care costs by 2018. "We are about to deliver a tsunami of preventable
chronic illness that will come pouring into the medical care delivery
system," says Reed.
The Results
Scores for each state are determined by gathering data from a
variety of government and nongovernmental databases and then calculating how
much each state is better or worse than the national average for each measure.
The scores take into account a broad variety of health measures, including
rates of infectious diseases,
number of preventable hospitalizations and even levels of air pollution.
Christine Finley, the state's deputy
commissioner for public health, says
For the states with the worst rankings, Dr.
Tuckson says the news isn't all bad.
5 Healthiest States
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5.
Click here for the complete list of
The Healthiest and Unhealthiest States
