Maryland was ranked No. 9 in the nation when it comes to children’s health, according to a study of national health care data released Wednesday.
Analysts for WalletHub, a financial news website, reached their conclusions by considering dozens of data points over three broad topic areas: kids’ health and access to health care; kids’ nutrition, physical activity and obesity; and kids’ oral health. The data were pulled from government statistics, nonprofit groups’ reports and other studies.
With the exception of Hawaii, which was rated No. 7, the top 10 U.S. states for children’s health were all in the Northeast. Texas was dead last.
Massachusetts topped the list, followed by Vermont, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and New Jersey.
According to the report, Maryland ranked:
- 8th in the percentage of children in excellent/very good health
- 16th in the percentage of uninsured children
- 30th in infant-death rate
- 16th in the percentage of children with unaffordable medical bills
- 26th in pediatricians and family doctors per capita
- 28th in the percentage of obese children
- 5th in the percentage of children with excellent/very good teeth
- 10th in the percentage of children with medical and dental preventive-care visits in the past year
“As the coronavirus pandemic continues to get worse, it’s more important now than ever to safeguard the health of America’s children,” WalletHub writes. “While children are less likely than adults to experience serious symptoms from COVID-19, they are still able to contract the disease and spread it to others. Children also may be less apt to practice good hygiene than adults, so now is a good time to teach them how to stay clean and minimize their chances of getting sick.”
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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