Report: La.’s Health Ranking Falls

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A report from the United Health Foundation finds Louisiana's national health rankings dropped to 49th in the last year.

The Advocate reports the ranking puts Louisiana second to only Mississippi in having the worst health outcomes of any state in the nation.

The report found Louisiana had strengths in ready access to prenatal care, a high immunization rate and high per capita public health funding.

The report says the state's challenges included a high rate of obesity, a high infant mortality rate and higher cancer and cardiovascular deaths.

State health chief Bruce Greenstein said Tuesday that the falloff is a sure sign that the state cannot afford to continue a Medicaid health insurance program for the poor that continues to reward volume over value and quantity over quality.