FOSTER CITY, Calif: MoneyRates.com updated its award-winning research today on healthcare quality among U.S. states and finds the states that are best positioned to meet coronavirus challenges and other ongoing demands.

The latest study confirms that where you live can impact access, cost and effectiveness of healthcare services.

The complete report, Vital Signs: Best States for Healthcare 2021, includes an interactive map allowing consumers to easily compare healthcare conditions among up to three states at a time.

To analyze healthcare quality, MoneyRates ranked all 50 states plus the District of Columbia on eight factors:

Health insurance coverage
Reported health status
Child immunization coverage
Infant mortality
Nursing home adequacy
Medical office staffing adequacy
Hospital affordability
Health insurance affordability

Based on an average ranking across the above criteria, Iowa emerges as this year's best state for healthcare, bumping Massachusetts from its overall position in last year's report. On the opposite end of the spectrum, South Carolina struggles in last place for the second consecutive year.

Healthcare disparity between states is illustrated in the following examples:

A Texas resident is six times as likely as one in Massachusetts to lack health insurance
West Virginians are almost twice as likely as those in the District of Columbia to describe themselves as being in fair or poor health
The infant mortality rate in Mississippi is 2.4 times that in New Hampshire
The cost of a daily hospital stay is more than 2.5 times as high in Washington state as in Mississippi

As COVID cases strain health systems nationally, it becomes increasingly important to understand which states are most likely to deliver highest quality care, notes Richard Barrington, senior financial analyst for MoneyRates. Healthcare is one factor considered by those determining the best states to retire, and also for people thinking about the best states to raise a family.

Iowa achieves top-ten ranking in four of eight categories this year, with first-place position in health insurance coverage and child immunization. The top ten states for healthcare delivery overall include:

Iowa
Massachusetts
Nebraska (tie)
North Dakota (tie)
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Hampshire
Virginia
Maryland
Kentucky

States ranking in the bottom ten are listed from worst to 10th-worst:

South Carolina
Oklahoma
Alaska
New Mexico
Texas
Georgia
Arizona
California
North Carolina
Nevada

It's clear that where people live can significantly affect the healthcare they receive, explains Barrington. With health systems taxed as never before, this can be crucial information to consider.

Barrington is available to elaborate on this research and its findings.

MoneyRates Study Shows Best and Worst States for Healthcare in 2021

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