Massachusetts topped the list of a new scorecard rating states on their adoption of policies to improve affordability of healthcare, but no state earned a perfect score.
"The Healthcare Affordability State Policy Scorecard," which Altarum's Healthcare Value Hub released Jan. 7, shows many states have work to do to address the affordability of healthcare for residents. It also provides a guide for each state on where to focus regulatory and reform efforts. For example, the report said Massachusetts should enact stronger protections against surprise medical bills and pursue additional strategies to reduce the cost of high-value care.
Altarum, a nonprofit research and consulting organization, rated 42 states and the District of Columbia on four policy areas:
- Extending coverage
- Lowering out-of-pocket costs
- Reducing low-value care, and
- Curbing excess prices
Since a state's outcome could be independent of the policies they have, states were also rated on their outcomes in the following areas:
- Percent of population that is uninsured
- Percent of population that is forgoing needed care, delaying care or struggling with medical bills, and
- Rates of known low-vale services delivered by providers, and
- Private payer prices relative to the national median
The scorecard is retrospective and only scored states on policies implemented as of Dec. 31, 2019. Each state received a policy score and an outcome score, and the two were combined for the overall ranking. Alabama, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming did not receive an overall ranking because of inadequate data. Access more information about the methodology used for the scorecard here.
Here are the overall rankings for each state:
1. Massachusetts
2. Maryland
3. Oregon
4. Minnesota
5. New York
6. California
7. Washington
8. Rhode Island
9. Maine
10. Connecticut
11. Colorado
12. New Jersey
13. Delaware
14. Virginia
15. District of Columbia
16. New Mexico
17. New Hampshire
18. Wisconsin
19. Illinois
20. Pennsylvania
21. Iowa
22. Michigan
23. Arizona
24. South Carolina
25. Arkansas
26. Ohio
27. Missouri
28. Florida
29. Kansas
30. North Carolina
31. Kentucky
32. Louisiana
33. Indiana
34. Texas
35. Utah
36. Alaska
37. Tennessee
38. Nebraska
39. Nevada
40. Idaho
41. Georgia
42. Oklahoma
43. Mississippi
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