Best and worst states for healthcare REVEALED: Oklahoma, West Virginia are worst

If you need to go to the ER or have surgery, you probably don’t want to be in Oklahoma.

State ranks worst for health care alongside Mississippi and West Virginiaaccording to a report by the Left-wing Commonwealth Fund.

The report, which covered 2021, looked at seven key metrics including affordability, service quality and access. The researchers also looked at reproductive care by looking at infant deaths and maternal mortality by state – although the report was made before Roe V Wade was overturned, limiting access to abortion for millions of people .

Meanwhile, Massachusetts, Hawaii and New Hampshire ranked among the top three states for health care, according to the criteria.

The researchers said the Covid pandemic influenced the rankings as the virus had pushed many hospitals to “breaking point”.

Other factors such as lack of health insurance and higher poverty rates in some states also played a role.

The report covered the period until the end of 2021, when Roe v. Wade was still in place and that the abortion had not been restricted.

Texas and Arkansas round out the bottom five.

Of the ten states at the bottom of the ranking, nine were led by Republicans and one, Louisiana, had shared control.

The states at the bottom of the table were among the hardest hit by Covid, according to the report.

Each has seen an increase in their premature mortality rate, or the number of deaths before the age of 75 that could normally have been prevented through public health measures or easier access to health care.

This was largely driven by Covid, although there was also an increase in deaths from drug addiction, diabetes and cancer.

States at the bottom of the rankings also tended to have a higher proportion of residents without health insurance coverage.

The federal government expanded health insurance coverage during the pandemic, but in some states coverage remained low. In Texas, which had the lowest medical coverage in the nation, nearly one in four people lacked health insurance.

For the better states, these had stronger health systems at the start of the pandemic, according to the report, which were better able to respond to the emergency.

More residents of these states were covered by health insurance.

The graph above shows the proportion of people who do not have health insurance by state. It also highlights states that have and have not expanded Medicaid to make insurance more accessible.

In their conclusion, the report authors said, “Overall, states that entered the pandemic with stronger health systems fared better.

“The Covid pandemic has pushed America’s healthcare system to its limits and amplified persistent gaps between states as they battle the coronavirus and its emerging variants.”

To help improve health care in the United States, they urged states to develop pandemic preparedness plans for the next outbreak.

They also called on lawmakers to make health insurance more accessible as well as drug treatment.