Texas health care system ranks 45th in country, study finds

Local Government
Health care pexels pranidchakan boonrom
The high costs of U.S. health care services don't always translate to better results, according to the WalletHub study. | Pexels.com / Pranichakan Boonrom

Texas posted the seventh-poorest showing among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in a new WalletHub study that ranked health care quality based on criteria such as medical visit costs, life expectancy and access.

The Lone Star State earned a total score of 48.49 in the study by the personal finances website, with the maximum score being 100. In comparison, No. 1 Minnesota was given a score of 64.96 in the analysis, which looked at three main categories: cost, access and outcomes.

Within these categories, researchers measured 44 different health-related criteria, such as percentages of uninsured. Texas ranked 48th on cost, 49th on access and 35th on health outcomes.

Texas finished last in the metrics of the share of insured adults aged 19 to 64 and the share of insured children under 18, the study found. And Texas came in 50th in the metric of the share of adults who did not visit a dentist over the past year.

The average U.S. resident has $12,914 in health expenses annually, according to an estimate by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The good news is that the growth of health care costs has slowed in recent years, the report says.

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State Health Care System Rankings in 2023 

Overall RankStateTotal ScoreCostAccessOutcomes
1Minnesota64.961715
2Iowa64.452256
3Rhode Island64.227316
4North Dakota63.98514
5Utah62.2413431
6Colorado62.142887
7Maine62.0821118
8Hawaii61.4518292
9South Dakota61.3291119
10Idaho61.0215373
11Massachusetts60.7933211
12Maryland60.2532224
13Vermont60.224344
14Nebraska60.1531913
15New Hampshire60.0729199
16Kansas59.71161023
17Montana59.68121721
18Virginia59.6444417
19Wisconsin59.1938610
20Michigan59.0863122
21Pennsylvania58.84101426
22New Jersey56.86202027
23Connecticut56.69471512
24Indiana56.68112436
25Oregon55.8439358
26Missouri55.02221639
27District of Columbia54.88231338
28Washington54.7446465
29Kentucky54.1551248
30New York53.89342328
31Ohio53.63173340
32Arizona52.25244831
33Delaware51.8403429
34New Mexico51.72253641
35Nevada51.62193942
36Illinois51.32423232
37Arkansas51.27142149
38California50.6413833
39Wyoming50.4504020
40Tennessee50.37263046
41South Carolina50.33354237
42North Carolina49.9454725
43Florida49.36375034
44Georgia48.79324544
45Texas48.49484935
46Oklahoma47.99364143
47Louisiana47.4441847
48Alabama47.17305145
49Alaska47.02512730
50Mississippi46.61272651
51West Virginia44.26492850
Source: WalletHub.com