New Report Suggests Maine is One of the Best States for Healthcare

It turns out Maine's a darn good place to live (or visit) when feeling under the weather or bruised and battered.

WalletHub.com, a personal finance website, recently published a report listing the best and worst states for healthcare. The Pine Tree State found itself near the top of the list.

Maine was listed as the 7th best state for healthcare, even beating the majority of its New England brethren (only Rhode Island was higher at number three).

Maine finished with a score of 62.08 out of a possible 100 points. The scoring fell under three major categories: cost, access, and outcomes. These three were broken down into 44 subcategories to further aide with detail and accuracy. You can read more about the methodology here.

Maine had respectable scores in both cost (21st ranking) and outcomes (18th). However, access is where Maine shined. The state finished as the best in the country. This category includes things like quality of hospitals, patient beds per capita, physicians per capita, and Medicare/Medicaid acceptance rate among physicians. Essentially, Maine is where you want to be if something in your body needs mending.

Frankly, this is quite a relief to hear. Whether it's for something routine or another global-wide pandemic, it's good to know that Maine's healthcare crew is ready to take on the challenge.

Along with Maine and Rhode Island, it was a good showing for New England. Massachusetts was just outside of the top 10 at 11th place, Vermont 13th, New Hampshire 15th, and Connecticut 23rd (lol).

According to WalletHub's list, the best state for health care is Minnesota. The worst would be West Virginia. As a West Virginia University alum, I am used to WV coming in last both on and off the field, so it doesn't surprise me.

You can check out the entire healthcare list here.