Florida 27th in nation for overall health

Florida ranks 27th among the states for its overall health, yet it is seeing a dramatic jump in drug-related deaths, according to the latest America's Health Rankings.

This is the first state health ranking in two years, which was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The analysis is produced by United Health Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the insurance giant, UnitedHealth Group.

Some preliminary findings on how the pandemic impacted Americans' wellbeing on a national level are provided in a separate report.

According to the newly-released state rankings, drug-related deaths in Florida jumped 52% from roughly 22 deaths per 100,000 to 34 deaths from 2018 to 2020. The U.S. rate is 28 drug deaths per 100,000 population.

On a positive note in Florida, the report shows reading proficiency among fourth graders in public schools is at 39%, above the national rate of 32%.

The state falls short on key health-care parameters: the uninsured rate is 12%, above the national rate of 9%.

Florida's public health funding is $79 per person compared to the U.S. rate of $116 per individual.

And the state continues to have a low supply of mental health providers, roughly 200 for every 100,000 population. The national rate is 300 mental health professionals.

Overall, the five healthiest states are New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Hawaii.

The bottom five are Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia and Alabama.

Why a spike in

drug-related deaths?

Drug overdoses climbed in Southwest Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue as people struggle to recover from Hurricane Ian's damage Sept. 28, said Stacey Cook, president and chief executive officer of SalusCare, the nonprofit mental health and addiction treatment center in Lee County.

"With a great deal of uncertainty, anxiety, loneliness and depression, folks often go to a substance instead of treatment," she said.

"We are seeing more people get in trouble with alcohol, especially women. With methamphetamines and opioids being laced with unknown substances, people have no idea what is in them, which is increasing the overdose rate," she said.

The shortage of mental health professionals comes as no surprise to Cook and to the David Lawrence Centers, the nonprofit mental health and drug treatment center in Collier County.

"Indeed, this (report) is further verification of what we have been seeing in Florida and in our local community," Scott Burgess, chief executive officer of David Lawrence, said.

Many factors contribute to the struggle to attract behavioral health professionals, he said.

"The state of Florida has a lower than average behavioral health investment," he said. "The reimbursement rates by Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies are poor and there are barriers to getting behavioral health services covered even when one is entitled. ..."

Factor in the high cost of housing, especially in Southwest Florida, and recruiting is challenging, he said.

"It is truly time to increase investments in, and reimbursements for, behavioral healthcare so desperately needed by children, families and adults can get the help they need," he said.

Cook, with SalusCare, said there are 412 child and adolescent psychiatrists statewide for four million children in need. The figure comes from the Florida Behavioral Health Association.

"The average age of child and adolescent psychiatrists in Lee is 52, so they are aging out," she said. "Less than 30% accept Medicaid."

The turnover rate of mental healthcare workers is 40%, she said.

"At SalusCare, we have more than 60 open positions of 350 employees that we are actively recruiting for, and three of our facilities are closed because of storm damage," Cook said. "We continue to see individuals leaving the workforce to leave the area, or leaving the profession completely, and they are leaving because they are exhausted."

The housing problem

When it comes to how severe the high cost of housing is in the state, 19% of Florida families are facing a squeeze, essentially the same as in the 2021 report.

In a similar vein, 10% of Florida households are food insecure, similar to a year ago, and slightly below the U.S. rate of 10.5%.

Based on Florida's population of 21.8 million, that means more than 2.1 million people are going hungry, Elizabeth Radi, a representative with the Collier County Tenants Union, said.

The housing cost squeeze has been going on for so long in the state that it is like "putting a Band-Aid on a hand yet ignoring the broken leg," Radi said.

"We need balance, the housing/ rental market needs balance," she said. "And we can't depend upon landlords to be compassionate (when) many don't even live in the country and are big investment corporations."

Radi said she doesn't know what lawmakers in Collier or at the state level are thinking or expecting to happen but she said it is clear they have no intention on trying to fix the problem.

"Short term or long term, they have ignored ideas and kicked the can down the road, as if it should be handled by someone else. It's my hope that people will start to get sick and tired of what's happening and start holding their leaders and our select legislative body accountable."

The COVID-19 pandemic impact

The America's Health Ranking addressed how the pandemic has impacted the nation's health with survey findings of 3,800 people nationwide. The survey was conducted online October 12-23 this year.

The big takeaway is how the pandemic disproportionately impacted racial and ethnic groups.

Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said it is clear the nation has a health debt to pay.

"For too long, we have underinvested in our public health infrastructure and in the health of underserved communities of color where rates of chronic conditions and other health challenges are highest," he said in the report.

Key findings nationally

Premature deaths before the age of 75 climbed 18% nationally.

Drug-related deaths spiked 30% from 2019 to 2020. The rate went from 21% to 28% deaths per 100,000 population, data shows. It was the largest year-over-year increase since 2007.

Drug-related deaths increased the greatest among Blacks at 43%, followed by Hispanics at 37% and 36% increase among Asians. Among the white population, drug deaths climbed 25%, the data shows.

Overall COVID-19 deaths were higher in 2021 compared to the year earlier. In 2021, there were 416,849 deaths for a rate of 102 deaths per 100,000 population, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2020, the rate was 85 deaths per 100,000 population.