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

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 Rank	State	Total Score	Cost	Access	Outcomes
1	Minnesota	64.96	1	7	15
2	Iowa	64.45	2	25	6
3	Rhode Island	64.22	7	3	16
4	North Dakota	63.9	8	5	14
5	Utah	62.24	13	43	1
6	Colorado	62.14	28	8	7
7	Maine	62.08	21	1	18
8	Hawaii	61.45	18	29	2
9	South Dakota	61.32	9	11	19
10	Idaho	61.02	15	37	3
11	Massachusetts	60.79	33	2	11
12	Maryland	60.25	3	22	24
13	Vermont	60.22	43	4	4
14	Nebraska	60.15	31	9	13
15	New Hampshire	60.07	29	19	9
16	Kansas	59.71	16	10	23
17	Montana	59.68	12	17	21
18	Virginia	59.64	4	44	17
19	Wisconsin	59.19	38	6	10
20	Michigan	59.08	6	31	22
21	Pennsylvania	58.84	10	14	26
22	New Jersey	56.86	20	20	27
23	Connecticut	56.69	47	15	12
24	Indiana	56.68	11	24	36
25	Oregon	55.84	39	35	8
26	Missouri	55.02	22	16	39
27	District of Columbia	54.88	23	13	38
28	Washington	54.74	46	46	5
29	Kentucky	54.15	5	12	48
30	New York	53.89	34	23	28
31	Ohio	53.63	17	33	40
32	Arizona	52.25	24	48	31
33	Delaware	51.8	40	34	29
34	New Mexico	51.72	25	36	41
35	Nevada	51.62	19	39	42
36	Illinois	51.32	42	32	32
37	Arkansas	51.27	14	21	49
38	California	50.6	41	38	33
39	Wyoming	50.4	50	40	20
40	Tennessee	50.37	26	30	46
41	South Carolina	50.33	35	42	37
42	North Carolina	49.9	45	47	25
43	Florida	49.36	37	50	34
44	Georgia	48.79	32	45	44
45	Texas	48.49	48	49	35
46	Oklahoma	47.99	36	41	43
47	Louisiana	47.4	44	18	47
48	Alabama	47.17	30	51	45
49	Alaska	47.02	51	27	30
50	Mississippi	46.61	27	26	51
51	West Virginia	44.26	49	28	50

Source: WalletHub.com