Iowa ranks as the nation’s 11th healthiest state in a new survey, down from seventh the past two years. Dr. Jonathan Fielding, a spokesman for the United Health Foundation report, says one of the main reasons Iowa dropped several notches this year was because our collective weight has been rising. Back in 1990, only 12-point-eight percent of Iowa’s population was obese and in 2004, it was almost double, 23-point-nine-percent or roughly one in four Iowans. Fielding is public health director of Los Angeles County and is chair of the non-profit Partnership for Prevention, which co-founded the national ranking of states. Fielding, a professor at U-C-L-A, says Iowa also fell on the national survey because more people are going without health insurance. Fielding says Iowa was second last year in the number of people who didn’t have health insurance, a very low number, while this year, Iowa fell to 15th with 11-point-3-percent of the state’s population not covered. There are 18 basic criteria on which the survey is based and Fielding says Iowa has, over the 15 years of the rankings, traditionally been in — or near — the top ten. Fielding says Iowa also ranks very low in per capita spending on public health, ranking 46th. Minnesota-based United Health Foundation did the rankings, and coincidentally ranked Minnesota first in the U.S., Louisiana last. For the full report, go to “www.unitedhealthfoundation.org”.
