Vermont tops America's Health Rankings: Which state's last?

CBS

(CBS) Are your state's citizens healthy? United Health Foundation unveiled its annual America's Health Rankings Tuesday, which pegged states with the best and worst health in 2011.

PICTURES: America's Health Rankings 2011: Which state scored worst?

For the rankings, the Foundation reviewed state data on rates for obesity, smoking, disease, hospitalizations, and poverty. For the fifth straight year, Vermont took the top spot as the healthiest state.

But overall, America's health has much room for improvement.

After three straight years of gains, the country's overall health saw no improvement between 2010 and 2011, the report showed. To put that in perspective, past rankings showed an improvement of at least 0.5 percent every year from 2000 to 2010, and an annual improvement of 1.6 percent throughout the 1990s.

What's going wrong with Americans' health?

The 2011 report showed such a "dramatic" increase in obesity and diabetes that it canceled out other improvements. Every person who quit smoking in 2011 was offset by a person who became obese, the report found. 2011 was also the first year in which every state reported at least 20 percent of its population was obese.

That trend could get worse. Experts estimate by 2030, more than half of Americans will be obese, CBS News reported.

"It is very easy to get access to a $1 cheeseburger, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week," Dr. Reed Tuckson, chief of medical affairs for UnitedHealth Group, told Fox News. "It's much more difficult to get access to a $1 tomato."

The report also showed an increase in the obesity-related disease diabetes, up from 8.3 percent in 2010 to 8.7 percent in 2011.

Has the economic downturn played a role in the country's health? The report showed almost a 4 percent increase in the number of children who live in poverty - up to 22 percent overall.

Not all findings were bleak. The report showed fewer Americans died from heart disease, and fewer Americans are smoking. The number of preventable hospitalizations also dropped across the country.

"While this year's Rankings shows some important improvements, we also see some very alarming trends - particularly diabetes and obesity - that, left unchecked, will put further strain on our country's already strained health care resources," Dr. Tuckson said in a written statement. "At a time when the nation, states and individual families are grappling with tightening budgets and growing health care expenses, this year's Rankings sends a loud wakeup call that the burden of preventable chronic disease will continue to get worse unless we take urgent action."

Besides Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Hawaii , and Massachusetts rounded out the top 5 healthiest states.

Which states were least healthy? Click here to find out...

22 Photos

America's Health Rankings 2011: Which state scored worst?

[zenduane]

The lowest states are all in the deep South - Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma. These are all places where radical right-wing governments refuse to require fast food restaurants to post calories on their menus. Ad the #1 health problem? Obesity, what else. They rejoice in their freedom to send their kids to the hospitals and premature graves.

[amerilatino]

Let me tell my experience. I came from Puerto Rico to Augusta, Georgia 10 years ago to work for a government facilities management agency. Quickly, I discovered that interpersonal relationships and social exchange were constrained and burdened here by a series of unfortunate circumstances native to many parts of the South. Places to be outdoors also have to be chosen carefully and children have to be looked after more closely, especially girls. There are no pedestrian walkways to speak of and bicycling is downright dangerous. In Puerto Rico and the Caribbean islands it is relatively easy to find a variety of fresh, inexpensive fruits, vegetables and lean meats/seafoods in smaller neighborhood marketplaces uniquely dedicated to local produce and protein staples, here produce and meat are mostly relatively expensive, hardly fresh (from the expiration dates I have found on the packaging) CAFO-produced supermarket products yet there is a glut of chain and local restaurants that offer mostly fried/smothered high-calorie "comfort" foods that are a load on the stomach, pancreas and gall bladder. Since I have moved here, I have had to deal with stomach problems, insomnia, muscle cramps and I have had to pay much closer attention to weight control. Spending time outside can be non-inspirational when you have a limited number of nearby places to go, have to watch out for accosting evangelical "missionaries" or strange folks who get too close to your children or pass up on a bike ride for fear of getting run over. None of this is conducive to a healthy life. Perhaps the United States has overcomplicated and overdressed itself to the point where it's politics, economy, social status-quos and culture have become the masters instead of the servants. I will, in any case, gather my savings and nest egg upon retirement and move to a simpler, healthier time and place. Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Belize are looking pretty good right now.

[nycclash]

As each state is reporting on this report, headlines are "X is healthiest state" or "X ranks number Y as healthiest state." One particular article's headline asked "Is our health falling apart?" Who is "OUR"? What does a person's private life (health) have to do with the State or the Nation? This is not "OUR," this is "me." My point is that somewhere along the line we've gone from the liberty-giving individualism that our country is all about to this liberty-robbing collectivism. I am NOT the property of the state. I am NOT a tally mark on a politicians's resume or health organization's yearly evaluation to make THEM look good. My health is my private life. Anyone wanting to counter that with the whine "I pay for your health care" should ask themselves if they are THE one person in the world who is a pristine human speciman because no matter who you ask they all seem to think it's them paying for someone else. Eventually we'd need to whittle it down to that ONE person who's paying, no? But for argument's sake, even if true, at what set limit do we say your freedom to live (legally) as you want is revoked? What's the price cap on freedom? Anyone?

[ludvig1-2009]

Actually if all I ate each day were 3 Big Mac's at about 600 calories each, I would lose weight. Don't knock the cheeseburgers. Exercise every day, eat cheeseburgers and you'll be healthy.

[jtdev1]

Anyone for a Krispy Kream Donut??

How about a Triple with Cheese?

64 oz Coke?

How about Super Sizing it?