Best and Worst States for Senior Health Named

The United Health Foundation, UnitedHealth Group’s nonprofit arm, in a report, declared the healthiest and worst states for senior health. According to the foundation, Massachusetts is the healthiest while Louisiana is worst.

To determine the rankings, the “America’s Health Rankings Senior Report” for 2016 was consulted. The said report measures the performance of every state in terms of offering a healthy environment for seniors (ages 65 and above).

Massachusetts’ movements towards lessening incidents of smoking as well as increasing flu vaccinations and physical activities aided the state to reach the number one spot this year. Second was Vermont, then New Hampshire, Minnesota and Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Louisiana, having placed last, showed high incidents of obesity, smoking and physical inactivity. It has also placed last in 2015. Other states such as Mississippi, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Arkansas turned out to be part of the five lowest states.

As a whole, seniors’ improved state of health for the previous three years has also been a result of the increase in home health care providers as well as the number of hospitalizations that are preventable, hip fractures and teeth extractions.

According to experts, boosting senior health is quite complex since millions of baby boomers are already aging – many of whom already experience multiple chronic illnesses.

The number of seniors is deemed to increase to 73.8 million (from 49.4 million) by 2030.