Idaho ranked 14th healthiest state

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Story Published: Nov 17, 2009 at 10:06 PM MDT

Story Updated: Nov 17, 2009 at 10:08 PM MDT

By Anthony Congi

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IDAHO FALLS - Today the 20th annual America's Health Rankings announced the healthiest and least healthy states in the country, along with the driving health trends of the last 20 years.

This year, Idaho ranked 14th overall. The healthiest state was Vermont, and Utah was ranked number two.

Some of our state's high points include being ranked 4th for low incidence of infectious disease, and 5th for preventable hospitalizations. We ranked 6th in levels of air pollution and 7th for violent crime rate.

However, not all is great here in the Gem State. We ranked 50th for availability of primary care physicians and 49th for immunization coverage.

The study also showed where Idaho ranked in terms of the nation's biggest health concerns: smoking and obesity. Which we placed 14th and 13th respectively.

"I really do believe that the greatest health battle over the next, at least certainly in the next decade will be the fight against obesity. We now know that the obesity epidemic is such that in ten years time, it is our estimation that there will be 100-million American adults who will be obese. Just try to imagine that," explains Dr. Reed Tuckson of the United Health Foundation.

Obesity rates have increased 129% in the last twenty years. More than 1 in 4 Americans are considered obese. If this rate continues, 43% of the population will be considered obese by 2018.

Tobacco use still remains the leading preventable cause of disease and death, killing 440-thousand a year. Despite a 38% decrease in smoking from 1990 to today, nearly 1 in 5 Americans smoke.

"Unless we take dramatic action, across the board, especially on tobacco and obesity, we're going to be delivering an awful lot of preventable chronic disease into the medical care system. We have got to take action at every level and we have to take it now," says Dr. Reed.

For more information on the study, and more state rankings, go to the Newslinks section of our website.

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This week Gov. Otter signed a bill requiring Idaho to sue the federal government if Congress passes health care reform. What's your response to this?

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