By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-10-19 09:31:22 | Word Count: 420
Maryland ranks 17th in the nation for health care quality, access and affordability, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, which reveals stark differences in care among the states.
The state didn't make it to the top tier of 13 states such as Vermont, Hawaii and Maine who continued to improve quality measures and decrease the ranks of the uninsured. But Maryland held steady for the second year (it was ranked 16 the year before) in the second tier of states doing a decent job amid a "health care system under stress, with deteriorating health insurance coverage for adults and rising health care costs." the report states.
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Maryland, for instance, is among just three states with premiums averaging under 14 percent of median income -- far more affordable than the lower ranking states, the report found. Some 83 percent of adults have insurance, just a bit lower than the 86 percent of adults who are insured in top-ranking Vermont.
Last week, we brought you a look at the huge disparities in health care coverage by state, so it's no surprise that another study would find big differences in issues such as wellness and equity -- a measure of how minorities and low-income people fared in each state's medical system.
The report offers an interactive map, where you can click and compare states from #1 ranking Vermont, where 13 percent of adults said they put off seeing a doctor for a medical problem because they couldn't afford it, to #56 Texas, where that figure was more than 35 percent.
In underscoring the disparities, the report presents what it calls a need for real health care reform.
The scorecard highlights persistent wide variation in performance across states and continued evidence of poor care coordination. Increasing cost pressures and deterioration in access across the U.S., together with geographic disparities in performance, underscore the urgent need for comprehensive national reforms to ensure access, change the trajectory of costs, and enhance value.
