The Healthiest and Unhealthiest States Ranked for 2015

Hawaii for the fourth year in a row continues to hold the title of the nation’s healthiest state, unveils US Health Rankings. While Florida sits in the lower half of the pack nationally, it is the second highest ranking Southern state: North Carolina (31), Georgia(40), SC (42), Tennessee (43), Alabama (46), Arkansas (48), MS (49) and Louisiana (50). (Seems like states tend to pick their poison and stick with it.) West Virginia and Kentucky also have the most smokers.

It seems that areas where Americans are making progress are smoking and exercising while on the other side they become more and more obese, diabetes rates are increasing and so are deaths related to drugs.

The list also revealed that drug deaths in the country have jumped 13.5% since 1990, and that the shaky economy continues to take a toll on the youngest Americans: childhood poverty has shot up to 21 percent.

Improvements in premature death rates – or years of life lost before age 75 – has slowed considerably since the report’s inception 26 years ago – a stark reminder of the persistent challenges to the nation’s health.

Virgina Pressler, Director of the Hawai’i Department of Health, says the data has to be viewed in perspective as Hawai’i ranks at the top of the list.

“This report is a call to action to make disease prevention a key component of our culture”, Dr. Reed Tuckson, external senior medical adviser to United Health Foundation, said in a written statement.

To see the national and state rankings in detail, visit www.americashealthrankings.org.

“The downstream consequences of that are going to be extraordinary, not only for people’s health, but for the financial health of the nation”, he says.

Tuckson said, “There is a very clear relationship that we’ve noticed in America between socioeconomic status and overall healthiness”.

“These are no longer a problem of poor people but, in fact, are now becoming a problem for suburban America and communities that traditionally have not experienced these kinds of problems”. The scoring methodology was developed and reviewed by public health experts.

Through collaboration with community partners, grants and outreach efforts, United Health Foundation works to improve our health system, build a diverse and dynamic health workforce and enhance the well-being of local communities.

The report relies on various government data sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. United Health Foundation was established by UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) in 1999 as a not-for-profit, private foundation dedicated to improving health and health care.