States Heatlh Care System Costs Vary : Review and Compare

I think it would be appropriate for states that want to restructure their health care systems to look at what other states are doing and how they are succeeding or failing under their particular operations.

Then, after study, institute what looks like will repair the flaws that are causing the home state to be unworkable, watch for and accurately record the results, gather all necessary individuals from around the state that have been tasked to make the system work, discuss the problems and solutions and then implement conclusions.

And when the system has been revised and implemented, watch how the new ideas are working out, and again, if problems start showing up, take action to review and repair them. Really, there is no other way to institute a workable healthcare system. It's called trial and error. The effort to succeed at implementing a working system will never end. It will always need tending.

The bottom line here having a willingness to actually want to fix the system, rather then using it for political gain.

Health Care Costs: A State-by-State Comparison
Source: Louise Radnofsky, "Health Care Costs: A State-by-State Comparison," Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2013.

April 12, 2013

Health care spending in the United States averaged $6,815 per person in 2009. But that figure varies significantly across the country, for reasons that go beyond the relative healthiness, or unhealthiness, of residents in each state, says the Wall Street Journal.

• The states that spend the most on health care for each resident are mostly in the Northeast.
• They are led by Massachusetts, a fact several Republicans used to criticize GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 primaries because as governor Mr. Romney signed the state's health care overhaul into law.
• But Connecticut and Maine also have significant spending, and Maine's expenditures were some of the fastest-growing in the past two decades.
• Experts generally attribute the region's higher spending to its higher cost of living, greater proportion of elderly residents and number of high-profile hospitals.

Expansive, sparsely populated states such as Alaska and North Dakota also have high spending. Their representatives often attribute this to care delivery being more expensive under their conditions.
Big-spending states had some of the highest per-person spending on hospital care and doctors' services, which make up the bulk of medical costs.

• But in dental services, Washington state had the highest per-person spending in 2009.
• Florida was among the states with high prescription drug spending.

Utah has the lowest spending, a fact its governors have often boasted of. Most experts attribute this to the state's relatively young and healthy population. The state has particularly low spending on hospital care and doctors' services.