State of unhealth?
California still ranked middle of pack for health
Despite a healthy reputation, California once again finds itself in the middle of the national pack in a recently released report from a coalition of health agencies.
The UnitedHealth Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention ranked California 24th in the nation for overall health in their report, according to the Sacramento Business Journal. It was a small improvement over 2010, when the same agencies ranked California the 26th healthiest state. The report was based on data from the Census Bureau, and used 23 health and socioeconomic indicators to develop the rankings. Researches noted that California continues to have low smoking and infant-mortality rates and few workplace deaths, but still has high air-pollution levels, low immunization rates and a high number of residents lacking health insurance.
Six of the top 10 states were from New England, while several Southern states including Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas were ranked the lowest.
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