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Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

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Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

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There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

Report: Signs look good for a healthy new year in WA

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Tuesday, December 26, 2023   

Washingtonians' health is looking good compared to other states, according to the latest standings in the 2023 America's Health Rankings report.

The state ranks seventh in the annual report, with especially high marks in the social and economic factors and behavior categories.

Dr. Joshua Liao is a physician at the University of Washington Medical Center. He said this report is ambitious in terms of its scope, and Washington still has many areas where it can improve.

"That overall ranking of number seven is encouraging," said Liao, "and yet we have to take that in view of all those subcomponents and look at how did we get to number seven? I think that's very important as well."

Liao pointed to a few categories in particular where the state is struggling - including housing, transportation risks and climate risks.

The report also notes that drug deaths increased 93% in the state between 2016 and 2021.

On a national scale, the Chief Medical Officer for UnitedHealthcare Employer and Individual - Dr. Rhonda Randall - said there are concerning trends for chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.

Eight chronic conditions reached their highest levels since America's Health Rankings began tracking them.

But Randall noted that states like Washington perform well in areas that help counteract these conditions.

"The states that have the highest rankings in behaviors," said Randall, "those are things like, are we getting physical activity? are we smoking? things like obesity, for example - have a tendency to do better on the chronic conditions."

Randall said there are other positives in the report nationally, such as the 7% increase both in mental health and dental professionals, and decreases in occupational fatalities and the number of people who are uninsured.



Disclosure: UnitedHealthcare contributes to our fund for reporting on Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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