The 2020 census shows that the states with the fastest-growing populations — including Texas, Florida, and Georgia — consistently rank last when it comes to health and health care.
In an op-ed published today in Harvard Business Review, the Commonwealth Fund’s David Blumenthal, M.D., and David Radley explain that these states rank poorly on health, largely because of how hard it is for their residents to access and afford health care. For example, Texas, which has added 4 million people during the past decade, ranks 42nd on health system performance and has the nation’s highest uninsured rate. Fast-growing states rank poorly in other areas of health, too, including infant mortality and premature death.
Policymakers can advance health, the authors say, by investing in state and federal policies that have been proven to help people get affordable health care, no matter where they live. | 
