In California, health is for the educated

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Education matters -- in some states more than others, at least as it pertains to health.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has ranked the states according to their residents’ health and education: Reaching America’s Health Potential Among Adults: A State-by-State Look at Adult Health. The report offers a snapshot of each state and the District of Columbia.

When measuring the size of the education-related health gap among residents, California is dead last.

That is, the percentage of the state’s most educated residents in ‘less than very good health’ is 28%. The overall rate of adults in ‘less than very good health’ is 47.9%.

But get this. The report says: ‘Even if California achieved this lower rate overall, the state’s rate would still exceed the national benchmark for adult health status -- 19.0 percent, the lowest (and best) rate of less than very good health seen in any state among college graduates who were non-smokers with recent leisure-time physical exercise.’

It seems we should be doing better, on many levels, than we are.

For a look at children’s health, here’s an earlier post: Can money buy good health? For kids, it can’t hurt.

-- Tami Dennis