By Jennifer Litz
Editor
April 16, 2008

Well, results are in, and Texas is the 12th unhealthiest state, according to a recent publication by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly, Inc. More specifically, CQ’s “16th Annual Healthiest State Award” released at the end of March put Texas as the 39th healthiest state out of, of course, 50.

Rankings were based on 21 factors, including teenage birth rate, percentage of adults who do not exercise, percent of adults who smoke, sexually transmitted disease rate, and others. These examples were “negative factors,” for which a high ranking would put the state’s healthfulness in a bad light; three “positive factors”—beds in community hospitals, percent of children aged 19-35 immunized, and safety belt usage rate—were also calculated, wherein a higher ranking was favorable. CQ culled their information from various national health and census agencies.

Texas’s low ranking owes to several factors, the most dire of which may be our dismal insurance coverage rate . The state leads the nation in percentage of population not covered by health insurance. Texas also had the fifth most expensive average annual family coverage health insurance premiums per enrolled employee at $11,533 (from US Department of Health and Human Services 2005 statistics, which put the national average for that year at $10,728). We’re No. 2 in teenage birth rates, according to 2006 statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control. And, according to the US Bureau of the Census, in 2006, Texas is No.1 for uninsured children.

Surprisingly, CQ Quarterly also ranked Texas the No. 12 state for new AIDS cases reported, according to CDC 2005 statistics, the latest available.

How does Tom Green County compare? Not favorably. In fact, the latest data available shows the county in worse condition than the rest of the state. For example, the Texas Department of State Health Services put the birthrate for adolescent mothers in Texas at 5 percent in 2004, the latest year available. The rate for Tom Green County was 5.5 percent. Slightly more mothers received on-time prenatal care in this county than the rest of the state, however.

There is some good news. The CQ report ranked Texas 47 in estimated rates of new cancer cases in 2007 (only 387.2 per 100,000, as opposed to the national average of 482.6). The Texas Department of State Health Services, however, put Tom Green County having slightly more cancer deaths than the rest of the state, as of 2004.

Other good news—Texas is 41 out of 50 states in percentage of adults who smoke, as of 2006. No comparable county information is available. The state is also No. 6 in safety belt usage, as of 2006 US Department of Transportation Statistics.

We’ve got some kudos—but also a long way to go.

Perhaps we should take cues from Minnesota. It ranked the most healthful state this year, “owing to access to health care providers, an emphasis on preventative care, affordability of health care, and a generally healthy population,” according to the editors of the CQ Press report.