20 U.S. cities with the best and worst healthcare

Making healthcare accessible and affordable is a top priority for employers and employees alike, and it might just come down to your zip code.

As remote work allows employees to move to a city of their choosing, it’s essential to consider where the healthcare ecosystem is at its strongest. Insurtech company HealthCareInsider ranked 20 of America’s most populous cities to find the best and worst locations for healthcare. The scores were given out of 100 points, based on factors like cost, access and quality.

Cost was judged upon the average price of ambulance transportation, emergency room visits and other healthcare services. Access examined factors such as healthcare workers per 1000 jobs and hospital beds per 1000 people. Quality looked at metrics like life expectancy, the percentage of those receiving preventive care and local COVID risk.

Boston received the top score of 78 out of 100, while Dallas received the worst, with a score of 37. The rankings reflected the extreme variations in access and cost across the U.S. For example, an ER visit is five times more expensive in San Francisco than in Minneapolis, the survey found.

“It’s well known that Boston and Minneapolis offer top healthcare and they scored highly within all three categories,” says Jeff Smedsrud, co-founder of HealthCareInsider. “Likewise, southern cities such as Dallas are known to have larger uninsured populations so it was not surprising to see them ranked poorly for access and cost.”

Read more: An inside look at what’s important to employees when it comes to healthcare

Here is the complete list from HealthCareInsider, ranked from best to worst healthcare ecosystems in cities across America.

Boston

Score: 78.13

Minneapolis-St. Paul

Score: 68.77

Philadelphia

Score: 61.19

Baltimore

Score: 60.84

Seattle

Score: 59.73

Phoenix

Score: 58.85

San Diego

Score: 58.38

Denver

Score: 57.35

Chicago

Score: 52.87

Tampa

Score: 52.55

Washington D.C.

Score: 51.48

Los Angeles

Score: 51.24

Detroit

Score: 47.03

Miami

Score: 46.64

San Francisco

Score: 46.60

Riverside-San Bernardino

Score: 41.29

Atlanta

Score: 38.43

Dallas

Score: 37.32
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