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

In case you hadn’t noticed, here in the U.S. we have a lot of diversity among the governing bodies we call states. Some of this diversity is pretty obvious, like climate, population, terrain, and size. We also have tremendous diversity in political philosophy and governance policies.  So, it shouldn’t be surprising that our united states don’t have a homogeneous disposition toward older adults.  In fact, our states vary wildly in their generosity toward their older members in providing healthcare.

Medicare plays a critical role in the healthcare of Americans everywhere, no matter where you live in the country, but the almost 62+ million adults enrolled in Medicare in 2020 are having very different experiences one from another, based on where they live. Recently, MedicareGuide, a network of Medicare experts whose mission is to help people understand their health insurance options so they can make good choices, researched healthcare in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to assess which ones offered the best (and worst) healthcare for adults over 65. 

The study ranked healthcare in terms of three main factors: 1) cost 2) access and 3) quality. To do that, the analysts used specific, relevant metrics for each variable, graded them on a 100-point scale, then determined a weighted average across all relevant metrics for that scale. They then calculated a total score for each factor and an overall score for each state and used it to rank order the states. Their results, published in June of this year, are startling.

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

Cost

Prescription Drug Prices Per Capita

Best: North Dakota

Worst: Tennessee

Average Deductible for a Part D PDP plan

Best: Missouri

Worst: Illinois

Average Medicare Supplement Premium

Best: New Mexico

Worst: Connecticut

Nursing Home / Assisted Living Per Capita

Best: Wisconsin

Worst: Vermont

Average MedicareAdvantage Max-Out-of-Pocket Amount

Best: California

Worst: Wyoming

Average Medicare Advantage Premium

Best: South Carolina

Worst: North Carolina

Out-of-Pocket Medical Spending

Best: Utah

Worst: Washington, D.C.

Average Monthly Insurance Premium

Best: Minnesota

Worst: Wyoming

Quality

Average Life Expectancy at Birth 

Best: Hawaii

Worst: Mississippi 

Fall Deaths per 100,000

Best: Alabama

Worst: Wisconsin

Percentage of Adults with Type 2 Diabetes

Best: Colorado

Worst: Alabama

Heart Disease Mortality

Best: Minnesota

Worst: Oklahoma 

Cancer Mortality 

Best: Utah 

Worst: Mississippi

Stroke Mortality 

Best: New York

Worst: Mississippi 

Alzheimer’s Mortality

Best: New York

Worst: Mississippi

Access

Number of PDP Plans

Best: California

Worst: Alaska

Geriatricians Per Capita

Best: Hawaii

Worst: Idaho

Physicians per Capita

Best: Washington, D.C.

Worst: Mississippi

Nurse Practitioners Per Capita

Best: Connecticut

Worst: Hawaii

Home Health Aides Per Capita 

Best: New York

Worst: Florida

Skilled Nursing Facilities Per Capita

Best: Vermont

Worst: New York

Medicare Rural Health Clinics Per Capita

Best: Nebraska

Worst: Maryland

Share of Doctors Who Opt out of Medicare

Best: North Dakota

Worst: California

Public Hospital System Quality

Best: Hawaii

Worst: Louisana

If you prefer your information in graphic form, this chart, developed by the MedicareGuide, represents the above information:

For some people, this information may provide added incentive to move…or to stay put. Regardless which camp you fall into, the more information we have on what kind of healthcare is provide where, the better educated we will be.