Here are the states with the best and worst health care systems

Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech
·3 min read
92

Story at a glance

  • A recent analysis from Better Benefits Guide ranked all 50 states based on their healthcare systems.

  • Massachusetts, California and New York came in at the top three with a decent number of hospitals in each state.

  • The analysis found that Alabama, Arkansas and Delaware have the worst healthcare systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic turned healthcare in the United States into a constant topic of national conversation and has forced millions of people to make access to good, or better, healthcare a top priority.

A recent analysis from Better Benefits Guide looked at all 50 states and ranked them from best to worst for healthcare based on a number of hospitals per million residents, physicians per 10,000 residents, and healthcare spending.

Massachusetts, California and New York are the states with the top three best healthcare systems in the country, according to the analysis.

The Bay State has the best patient-to-dentist ratio and patient-to-mental health provider ratio out of all 50 states. It can also boast having one of the best patient-to-primary care physician ratios on the list with 969 patients to every doctor.

California is one of the states that spends the most on healthcare per capita, according to the analysis, shelling out on average of more than $9,800 per resident a year.

The state is also home to the second-highest number of hospitals, with 340, just behind Texas at 369.

New York came in third place and is home to 187 hospitals, some of which are regarded as the best in the country. The state only spends a few dollars less on health care per capita than California. On average, New York state spends $9,851 on healthcare per inhabitant.

Meanwhile, the three states that have the worst healthcare systems in the country are Alabama, Arkansas and Delaware, the analysis found.

Alabama expends a relatively small amount of money on healthcare per person. Analysts found that the state only spends on average $6,452 a year per resident, the lowest annual spending on the list.

Arkansas is not much better. The state only has 52 hospitals to serve its population of over 3 million people and only spends about $6,800 on healthcare per resident.

Delaware is home to just under a million people and only has eight hospitals to serve them, the analysis found. For comparison, Vermont, with a population of just over 600,000 people, has seven hospitals.

The state also spends one of the smallest amounts of money on healthcare per resident, only paying an average amount of $6,587 a year per person. There is also a shortage of medical care providers in the state. In Delaware, there is a primary care physician for every 1,334 patients, one dentist per 2,041 patients and 354 patients for every mental health provider.

Here are the top 10 states with the best healthcare:  

  1. Massachusetts

  1. California

  1. New York

  1. Oregon

  1. Colorado

  1. New Jersey

  1. Maine (tie)

7. Washington (tie)

9. Connecticut

10. Illinois

The 10 states with the worst healthcare systems:

  1. Alabama

  1. Arkansas

  1. Delaware

  1. Tennessee

  1. Georgia

  1. Mississippi

  1. South Carolina

  1. South Dakota

  1. Arizona

  1. North Dakota

—Updated Friday at 2:23 p.m.

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