State-by-State Healthcare Costs
WSJ, Monday April 8, 2013
Let’s step back a minute from discussing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA) and just talk healthcare numbers. I came across an article and related graphic from the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Edition that I thought was worth sharing.
The first paragraph of the article gives you insight to the above graphic: “Health-care spending in the U.S. averaged $6,815 per person in 2009. But that figure varies significantly across the country, for reasons that go beyond the relative healthiness, or unhealthiness of residents in each state”.
There really is not one main reason that one people in a certain state spend more or less on their healthcare. It’s a combination of cost of living, life style, percentage of elderly within the state population, dense (east coast) or sparsely inhabited states (Montana, Alaska), etc.
If you want to see how your state costs stacks up against other states in areas of Hospital Care, Physician and Clinical Services, Prescription Drugs and Other Nondurables, and Obesity go to: (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323884304578328173966380066.html?mod=wsj_valettop_email#project%3DIVCostsprint%26articleTabs%3Darticle)
(Louise Radnofsky is the author of the WSJ article referenced above)
