News ranks the best states in terms of health care, based on the quality, access and health of the state's population. The states with the best health care in the United States are those where people are generally healthier, have access to health care services, and are least likely to be uninsured. The best states for health care are found across the country, from Hawaii to Rhode Island. That said, four of the top 10 states on our list are in the Northeast, while three are in the West.
Within these three categories, we break down the best and worst states into several data points about outcomes, costs, and access to health care. Below is a summary of those findings and the best and worst states for each data point. Massachusetts, for example, ranks last in several measures of care for adults 65 and older, including avoidable hospitalizations and hospital readmissions. States were evaluated and ranked based on the performance of their health systems for each of the four groups separately (based on data availability), and then those scores were combined to obtain the state's final overall composite score.
