The States Are Not United When It Comes To Healthcare For Seniors

Stethoscope on a flag

getty

In case you haven’t noticed, here in the US there is a great diversity among the government agencies that we call states. Some of this diversity is pretty obvious, such as climate, population, terrain, and size. We also have tremendous diversity in political philosophy and governance policies. So it should come as no surprise that our United States does not have a homogeneous attitude towards older adults. In fact, our states differ greatly in their generosity towards their senior members in the provision of health care services.

Medicare plays a vital role in the health care of Americans wherever they live in the country, but the nearly 62 million adults enrolled in Medicare in 2020 have very different experiences depending on where you live. Recently, MedicareGuide, a network of Medicare experts whose mission is to help people understand their health insurance options so they can make good decisions, researched health care systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to assess which offers the best (and worst) health care for adults over 65.

The study assessed health care based on three main factors: 1) cost, 2) access, and 3) quality. To do this, the analysts used specific, relevant metrics for each variable, rated them on a 100-point scale, and then determined a weighted average across all relevant metrics for that scale. They then calculated a total score for each factor and a total score for each state, and used these to rank the states. Your results, published in June this year, are astounding.

What follows is a breakdown of the winners and losers in each of the factors, broken down by the metrics used in the study:

costs

Per capita prescription drug prices

Best of all: North Dakota

Worst of all: Tennessee

Average Deductible for Part D PDP Plan

Best of all: Missouri

Worst of all: Illinois

Average Medicare Supplement Premium

Best of all: New Mexico

Worst of all: Connecticut

Nursing home / assisted living per capita

Best of all: Wisconsin

Worst of all: Vermont

MedicareAdvantage Max Out-of-Pocket Average Amount

Best of all: California

Worst of all: Wyoming

Medicare Advantage Average Premium

Best of all: South Carolina

Worst of all: North Carolina

Medical expenses out of pocket

Best of all: Utah

Worst of all: Washington, DC

Average monthly insurance premium

Best of all: Minnesota

Worst of all: Wyoming

quality

Average life expectancy at birth

Best of all: Hawaii

Worst of all: Mississippi

Fall deaths per 100,000

Best of all: Alabama

Worst of all: Wisconsin

Percentage of adults with type 2 diabetes

Best of all: Colorado

Worst of all: Alabama

Mortality from heart disease

Best of all: Minnesota

Worst of all: Oklahoma

Cancer mortality

Best of all: Utah

Worst of all: Mississippi

Stroke mortality

Best of all: New York

Worst of all: Mississippi

Alzheimer’s mortality

Best of all: New York

Worst of all: Mississippi

access

Number of PDP plans

Best of all: California

Worst of all: Alaska

Geriatricians per capita

Best of all: Hawaii

Worst of all: Idaho

Doctors per capita

Best of all: Washington, DC

Worst of all: Mississippi

Nurses per capita

Best of all: Connecticut

Worst of all: Hawaii

Home health aids per capita

Best of all: New York

Worst of all: Florida

Qualified care facilities per capita

Best of all: Vermont

Worst of all: New York

Medicare Rural Health Clinics Per Capita Cap

Best of all: Nebraska

Worst of all: Maryland

Proportion of physicians who opt out of Medicare

Best of all: North Dakota

Worst of all: California

Quality of the public hospital system

Best of all: Hawaii

Worst of all: Louisana

If you prefer your information in graphical form, this table developed by MedicareGuide presents the information above:

Where states rank in the three dimensions of health care

MedicareGuide

For some people, this information can provide an added incentive to move … or to stay in place. Regardless of which camp you fall into, the more information we have about what type of health care is offered where, the better educated we will be.

source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/the-states-are-not-united-when-it-comes-to-healthcare-for-seniors/