Las Vegas, NV (KXNT) - Even without any extra costs that might arise from the coronavirus pandemic, the average American spends more than $11,000 per year on personal health care, according to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
In addition, while health care in the U.S. is expensive, higher medical 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.
Conditions aren’t uniform across the U.S., though. To determine where Americans receive the best and worst health care, the financial website WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 44 measures of cost, accessibility and outcome, and Nevada came out with a less than ideal placing of 43rd place. Only 8 states finished lower.
Hurting Nevada’s overall score was a 3rd-from-the-bottom finish in the “most physicians er capita” category (Idaho had the lowest), and a 40th place ranking in the category of “Outcomes”
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Hawaii and Maryland gabbed the top 5 spots. Gulf coast states dominated the bottom, with (in reverse order) Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama ranked as the worst states for health care.
For a look at the full study, click here.