Researchers Find Big State Health And Mortality Variations

Texas ranked last in terms of access and 46th in terms of quality, but it performed somewhat better in the health quality rankings. It came in 37th on the preventable premature deaths chart and 24th on the healthy lives chart.

But overall analysis of the study findings shows that health insurance, the main component of the health access indicator developed by the authors of the Commonwealth Fund report, plays a critical role in improving the quality of care a person in a particular state receives, the authors of the report say.

"States can do much to improve both affordable access and efficiency in the organization of insurance and delivery of care through their oversight of health insurance markets, purchase of insurance for state employees, and support of public insurance initiatives," authors write in the report.

Many states with relatively high quality care also have relatively low levels of spending, and health insurance rates are lower in some expensive, high-income states, such as New York, than they are in lower-income states, such as Maine, the researchers note.

"If all states could approach the low levels of mortality from conditions amenable to care achieved by the top state, nearly 90,000 fewer deaths before the age of 75 would occur annually," the researchers write. "If insurance rates nationwide reached that of the top states, the uninsured population would be halved. Matching the performance of the best states on chronic care would enable close to 4 million more diabetics across the nation to receive basic recommended care and avoid preventable complications, such as renal failure or limb amputation."

Allison Bell contributed information to this report.