New York Nears Top Of List For Best States For Children’s Healthcare

As most of us know, the cost of healthcare can be quite astronomical, especially when adding a spouse or dependent to a plan. I know how shocked I was at the amount of money that would come out of my paycheck right after I became a mom, surprised that there was no difference in cost between adding one child, or 32.

According to a recent study from WalletHub, 'and the average amount workers pay toward employer-sponsored family coverage is over $6,100 per year.'

In addition to the cost of healthcare, is the quality and access to services, so WalletHub took a look across the U.S. to see where each state fell, and thankfully for us here in NY, our ranking was quite high.

New York Ranks As Sixth Best State For Children's Healthcare

In their comparisons, WalletHub looked at data to measure the most cost-effective and highest-quality health care for children across the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, using kids between the ages of 0-17; New York ended up ranking #6.

The three key areas used to evaluate children's health care across the states were Kids’ Health & Access to Health Care, Kids’ Nutrition, Physical Activity & Obesity and Kids’ Oral Health.  Specific factors included in the study include looking at children in excellent or very good health, insured percentages, infant death rate, affordability of medical bills, obesity rates, vaccination status and even pediatricians and family doctors per capita.

Here's where New York came in across those categories:

• 22^nd – % of Children in Excellent/Very Good Health
• 4^th – % of Uninsured Children
• 8^th – Infant-Death Rate
• 10^th – % of Children with Unaffordable Medical Bills
• 24^th – Pediatricians & Family Doctors per Capita
• 21^st – % of Obese Children
• 25^th – % of Children 19 to 35 Months Old with All Recommended Vaccines

While New York tends to carry a bad reputation for many things these days, it is nice to see that in an important area like children's healthcare, that New York's ranking comes in so close to the top.