CT now fourth healthiest state
Connecticut residents are healthier than all but three other states. According to the latest America’s Health Rankings by the United Health Foundation. That is down from third last year, and below 2006 and 2008 when we were the healthiest in the nation. Despite the wobbling, we consistently rank well. Unfortunately, our health isn’t reflected in our high insurance premiums. Those are driven mainly by prices, especially drug prices.
While Connecticut does well overall, our performance varies between categories. At 12.2% of adults smoking, we do better than most states. Contrary to popular opinion, we also rank well in the number of primary care physicians. But there is room for improvement. Connecticut ranks 41st (in the bad way) in health disparities, and excessive drinking and drug death rates are far too high. Interestingly we rank seventh (in the good way) among states in their Policy category. According to the site, “The policy category represents structural principles that guide or determine health decisions of the population, such as immunizations, health insurance coverage, and public health funding.”