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Health & Medicine
America's Healthiness Is Improving--But Slowly
Fully produced report in MP3 format:
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96 kbps
(57 seconds)
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(OPEN):
ACCORDING TO THE JUST-RELEASED 2010 "AMERICA'S HEALTH RANKINGS",
THE NATION'S OVERALL HEALTH IMPROVED ONE PERCENTAGE-POINT LAST YEAR.
BUT, REDUCTIONS IN SMOKING, PREVENTABLE HOSPITALIZATIONS, AND INFECTIOUS
DISEASE WERE OFFSET BY CONTINUED INCREASES IN OBESITY, CHILDREN IN
POVERTY, AND LACK OF HEALTH-INSURANCE. GIVEN THE INCREASING
AWARENESS OF THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ESCALATION IN HEALTH-CARE
COSTS, THIS SLOW IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTHINESS SHOULD SOUND AN ALARM FOR
URGENT ACTION BY STATES AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES. UNITED HEALTH
FOUNDATION'S DOCTOR REED TUCKSON HAS MORE...
(TUCKSON):
"WELL, THE RANKINGS SHOW US, FIRST OF ALL, THAT--NO MATTER WHERE
THE STATE IS IN THE RANKINGS--EVERY STATE HAS ITS SHARE OF
SUCCESSES--AND EVERY STATE HAS ITS SHARE OF CHALLENGES. HOWEVER,
THE HEALTHIEST STATE IN THE COUNTRY, THIS YEAR, WAS VERMONT--AND THE
STATE [THAT'S] STRUGGLING WITH THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IS THE STATE OF
MISSISSIPPI."
(CLOSE):
FOR MORE INFORMATION--INCLUDING THE FULL STATE-BY-STATE LISTINGS--VISIT
"AMERICA'S-HEALTH-RANKINGS"-DOT-ORG.
