Massachusetts has the best healthcare system in the nation while Georgia has the worst, according to WalletHub’s 2020 survey of the Best & Worst States for Health Care, which included oral health among the 44 measures of cost, accessibility, and results it examined.
The top five also included Minnesota in second place, followed by Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, and North Dakota. At the bottom of the list, Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina, and Mississippi immediately preceded Georgia.
The District of Columbia had the most dentists per capita, with Vermont, Wyoming, Utah, and Hawaii filling out the top five. Mississippi, Kentucky, Kansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana had the forty-seventh through fifty-first fewest dentists per capita, respectively.
Connecticut has the lowest percentage of adults with no dental visit in the past year, followed by Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and the District of Columbia. The states with the highest percentage of adults who had not seen the dentist in the past year included Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Mississippi in last place.
Insurance played a vital role in WalletHub’s survey as well, finding that:
- Massachusetts has the lowest average monthly premium at $398, while Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Iowa were tied with the highest with $1,034.
- North Dakota has the highest rate of physicians who accept Medicare, while Hawaii has the lowest.
- Massachusetts has the highest percentage of insured adults between the ages of 19 and 64, while Texas has the lowest.
- Massachusetts has the highest percentage of insured children age 18 and under, while Texas has the lowest.
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