10 Worst States for Health Care in 2021

Confronted with the staggering effects of the pandemic, the health care systems in some states have been in a worse position than others to meet the attendant challenges, according to a recent analysis from MoneyRates.com. The analysis found these states lagging those with the best health care on matters such as whether a resident had health insurance, the number of residents who said they were in fair or poor health, the number of nursing facilities relative to the size of the elderly population and the ratio of doctors to a state's population. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Disease Control and the Kaiser Family Foundation, MoneyRates identified the worst states for health care by ranking each one's performance in eight categories, then basing the overall rankings on the average of rankings across all categories. MoneyRates also classified state-by-state conditions in each category as one might describe a person's health:

• Robust: the best 20%
• Healthy: the next 20%
• Average: the middle 20%
• Frail: the next 20%
• Critical condition: the bottom 20%

See the gallery above for the 10 worst states for health care in 2021. (Image: Shutterstock)