For years, in rankings of health indicators by state, Georgia typically landed in the high 30s to low 40s. But never at the bottom until now.
The Peach State, though, has been ranked 50th, ahead of only Oklahoma, in a comparison of states and Washington, D.C., on health care for seniors. It follows a Georgia ranking of 51st last year on overall health care, a ranking largely overshadowed at the time by news of the pandemic.
The recently published ratings by MedicareGuide on senior health care analyzed factors such as prescription drug prices, the number of physicians in relation to a state’s population, and life expectancy to determine which states offered the best health care for people over 65.
MedicareGuide, which is part of the consumer health information website HealthCare.com, compared the states on measurements of cost, quality of care, and access to care.
The cost category includes out-of-pocket medical spending, while the quality measure analyzes mortality rates for heart disease, cancer and stroke, among other factors. Access includes rates of geriatricians, nurse practitioners and home health aides per capita.
“This is depressing but a necessary wake-up call for Georgia policymakers,’’ Kathy Floyd, executive director of the Georgia Council on Aging, said this week. “Unlike the younger population, seniors have Medicare, but that doesn’t automatically translate to good health care.”
The Georgia Department of Community Health, when asked to comment on the ranking, pointed out that the agency does not administer the Medicare program.
“There is no question that Georgia has work to do as a state where older adult health is concerned,” said Lisa Renzi-Hammond of the Institute of Gerontology at the University of Georgia’s College of Public Health. “These rankings are an excellent reminder that we need to roll up our sleeves, dig in and focus on infrastructure to support Georgia’s older adults.’’
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