Massachusetts Health Insurance

How Healthy is your State?

Massachusetts is 3rd this year; it was 7th in 2008, according to United Health Foundation's 2009 Study.

Massachusetts is among the top ten states on 10 of the 22 measures.
Strengths include a low rate of uninsured population at 5.4 percent
A low occupational fatalities rate at 3.1 deaths per 100,000 workers
A low prevalence of obesity at 21.4 percent of the population
Ready availability of primary care physicians with 190.0 primary care physicians per 100,000 population
Low geographic disparity within the state at 6.3 percent
A low premature death rate with 6,003 years of potential life lost before age 75 per 100,000 population.

Challenges include a high prevalence of binge drinking at 17.6 percent of the population
A high rate of preventable hospitalizations with 78.7 discharges per 1,000 Medicare enrollees.

In the past year, the rate of uninsured populations decreased from 7.9 percent to 5.4 percent.
In the past five years, the percentage of children in poverty increased from 12.0 percent to 17.1 percent of persons under age 18.
In the past ten years, the prevalence of obesity increased from 14.3 percent to 21.4 percent of the population.
Since 1990, the prevalence of smoking decreased from 28.2 percent to 16.0 percent of the population.