Report Ranks Pa. Second Worst State To Have A Baby
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A new report ranks the best and worst states to have a baby -- and a state in our area apparently was ranked among the worst.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, says they compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia to help parents gauge their baby-planning costs.
Of the Tri-state area, New Jersey ranks the highest, at 37, with Delaware at 39.
Pennsylvania is ranked 50th overall, beating only Mississippi.
To find the best and worst states to have a baby, WalletHub says they ranked the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions, including: 1) Budget, 2) Health Care and 3) Baby-Friendly Environment. They say they then compiled 21 relevant metrics.
For Budget, WalletHub says they considered Hospital Cesarean-Delivery Charges, Hospital Conventional-Delivery Charges, Average Annual Infant-Care Costs, Cost of Living, Average Annual Wage of Nurses, Average Annual Wage of Pediatricians, and Average Health Insurance Premiums.
For Health Care, the website looked at Infant Death Rate, Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births), Rate of Low Birth-Weight, Rate of Preterm Births, Number of Midwives & Obstetrician-Gynecologists per 100,000 Residents, Number of Pediatricians per 100,000 Residents, 'Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition & Care' (mPINC) Score, and Number of Fertility Clinics per 100,000 Residents.
For Baby-Friendly Environment, WalletHub considered Air Pollution, Number of Superfund Sites per 100,000 Residents, Number of Mom Groups per 100,000 Residents, Number of Child Care Centers per 100,000 Residents, Percentage of Nationally Accredited Child Care Centers, and 'Parental Leave Policy' Score.
So what are some of the reasons why Pennsylvania ranked so low overall, as well as coming in last for "Baby Friendly Environment"?
"Pennsylvania ranked 50th overall due to the below average rankings for the Budget (37th) and Health Care (36th) key dimensions. And the Baby Friendly Environment ranking (51st) tipped the scale.
For most of the metrics that compiled the Budget category, Pennsylvania ranked below average. The state has a high Average Annual Infant Care Cost, where parents spend up an average of $9,599. Also, the individual health insurance cost is slightly below average, Pennsylvania ranking 27th with a $289 average monthly premium," said WalletHub analyst, Jill Gonzalez.
"In terms of healthcare, PA has a worse than average Infant Death Rate (36th) with 6.66 infant deaths per 1,000 births. Even more surprising is the access to pediatric care - there are just 2.90 pediatricians per capita, the 3rd least in the country.
The environment that a baby is born into in PA could use the most improvement. The Air Pollution in Pennsylvania is the second worst in the nation and the number of Superfund Sites per capita is 2.37 (40th), making it clear that the state is still recovering from its industrial past. The number of Moms Groups (La Leche, etc) per capita is the lowest in the country, so support for new parents seems dismal," said Gonzalez.
According to the report, New Jersey placed 18th in "Health Care" rank and 13th in "Baby Friendly Environment," but one of the worst in "Budget" at 48.
"New Jersey ranked 48th for Budget because of the high delivery charges - these can stack up to an average of $42,669 for a C-section with complications. New Jersey has an even higher cost of infant care than Pennsylvania at $10,540 annually. And the situation gets worse when with the 6th highest health insurance average monthly premium cost at $373.
For Health Care, New Jersey did better. It boasts the 5th lowest infant death rate at 4.48 deaths per 1,000 births. Also, the state has the 5th highest number of pediatricians per capita at 14.43, and the 4th highest number of fertility clinics.
New Jersey ranked 13th for Baby Friendly Environment due to it's strong parental leave policy, and high number of child centers at 43.25 per capita. The air pollution in New Jersey is actually much lower than in PA, ranking 24th," said Gonzalez.
As for Delaware, the state placed 19th in the "Health Care" rank, according to the report. However, the report ranked Delaware among the worst in Budget (40) and Baby Friendly Environment (45).
"Delaware ranked 19th for Health Care, having the 3rd highest number of midwives and Obstetrician-Gynecologists per capita and also the 3rd highest number of pediatricians. When it comes to Maternity Practices and Fertility Clinics, Delaware ranked 3rd and 5th respectively.
For Budget, Delaware ranked worse than average for the cost of health insurance at $313/mo. But, it had a slightly better than average cost of infant care at $8,133 per year.
The state ranked low for the Air Pollution key metric (40th) and even worse for the number of Superfund Sites at 5.34 per capita, the 6th worst state in the country for that specific metric. Also the number of mom groups is quite low at 0.11 per capita - 8th fewest in the country," said Gonzalez.
According to the website's rankings, Vermont is apparently the best state for babies, with North Dakota, Oregon, Hawaii and Minnesota rounding out the top five.
See the full ranking here.
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