Americans are unhealthy, and Louisianians are some of the unhealthiest.
The state ranked 49th in the United Health Foundation’s overall health rankings released Monday. The good news is that our health may be improving – last year we were 50th. The bad news is that we still have a long way to go. The only way we can get there is with the help good leaders dedicated to reforming public health care. And improving our health means more of the one thing everyone is fighting for – money.
The foundation calculates a state’s health on 17 factors, and the Bayou State ranked lowest for the risk for heart disease, the percentage of children in poverty, the rate of uninsured population, the risk of cancer deaths and more.
We have more smokers, fewer high school graduates and a higher mortality rate than most other states.
Our population isn’t just unhealthy – these rankings indicate our state lacks the resources to get people the health care they need.
Though personal behaviors and choices are a major factor in determining a state’s health, the foundation says the community’s policy makers and environment also play an equal part.
The state’s top brass, particularly our newly elected governor, need to be willing to put forth the hard work and resources necessary to make Louisiana’s people healthier. To her credit, Kathleen Blanco has said she will make this one of her top priorities. It surely will take some innovative solutions to what has become a dramatic problem.
The state may not be able to directly affect people’s eating habits, exercise routines or lifestyles. But the state has seen dramatic cuts to public health care, particularly charity hospitals, in the past few years. Those hospitals treat the uninsured poor, and this group of people is often the state’s least healthy.
Funding for health care has suffered “nips and tucks” throughout the past few years, but this year the state charity hospital system was hardest hit. Now health officials are dealing with the effects of a $66-million budget cut.
Charity hospitals have been forced to cut back on services – clinics are closing, staffs are cutting back and there are fewer beds in some emergency rooms. The system wants to focus on preventative care, meaning treating diseases like asthma and diabetes before they require a hospital visit.
Preventative care, however, requires funding. It requires more clinics with longer hours and more doctors to do routine checkups and prescribe medicine to handle illnesses. Budget cuts have forced hospitals to only be able to attend to people’s more immediate needs. Doctors say this means uninsured people’s health will deteriorate even more before they seek care.
The solution, some say, is to eliminate the charity hospital system because it is a strain on the state’s resources. But until officials find a way to drastically reduce the number of people living in poverty, and therefore many of the uninsured, this is a frightening idea.
Those in power, the officials and community leaders, may not be affected by whether a woman without insurance can get treatment for diabetes.
But that woman has to get care somewhere, and she may end up in the emergency room at a private hospital. Legally, doctors must treat her. Her inability to pay for care is a financial burden on the hospital that gets passed onto consumers, including those officials, in the form of higher insurance costs.
So perhaps health care, particularly for the poor, is everybody’s problem. It is time Louisianians decided to get in shape, by working within their communities and with state leaders, to find a healthy solution.