With the Affordable Care Act remaining in effect and the CDC reporting that over 87 percent of the population has a regular place to go for medical care, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2019’s Best & Worst States for Health Care.

In order to determine where Americans receive the highest-quality services at the best prices, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 43 key measures of health care cost, accessibility and outcome. The data set ranges from average monthly insurance premium to physicians per capita to share of insured population.

How Washington, D.C. stakes up for quality Health Care

Health Care in D.C. (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

• 6^th – Avg. Monthly Insurance Premium
• 1^st – Hospital Beds per Capita
• 1^st – Physicians per Capita
• 2^nd – Dentists per Capita
• 2^nd – % of Insured Adults
• 3^rd – % of Insured Children
• 9^th – % of At-Risk Adults with No Routine Doctor Visit in Past Two Years
• 2^nd – % of Adults with No Dental Visit in Past Year

In the United States, the average American spends more than 10,000 annually on personal health care, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That is approximately 17.9 percent of the U.S. GDP.

What drives up health care costs?

• The overall health of the U.S. population
• Increase in advanced medical equipment
• Lack of awareness about effective treatments

Here is an important health care fact to keep in mind: higher health care costs do not necessarily  translate to better results. And health coverage, life expectancy , and disease burden all major factors in the longevity and quality life Americans can expect nationwide. The two states with the best health care in the Nation are Minnesota (63.79% score) and Massachusetts (62.33% score). We can do better.

But the question still remains, how long will Affordable Care Act survive in our capitalist society?

Major insurers such Blue Cross, Aetna and Humana, have pulled out of many state-run insurance exchanges, leaving residents of some counties with few, if any, options for coverage.  Learn more about the debate by reading the full report 2019’s Best & Worst States for Health Care now.