Rhode Island’s state and local governments spend the third least on health care of any U.S. state on a per capita basis, according to a newly released study by Self Financial Inc., a financial technology company.
The Self Financial analysis claims that 2.8% of total state and local government spending in Rhode Island goes toward health care. Overall, according to the study, health care spending by the state and local governments in Rhode Island amounts to $312 per person each year, putting the state at 47th of 50 states in the country in terms of per capita state and local government health care spending.
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The data used in the study shows that, with a population of about 1.06 million, total annual state and local health care spending amounts to $331 million, according to the study, citing information collected from 2019 as part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances.
Wyoming is at the top of the list for state and local government health care spending, according to the Self Financial report, at $2,978 annually per capita, following by South Carolina, $1,730; Kansas, $1,558; Mississippi, $1,547; North Carolina, $1,547; California, $1,533; Washington state, $1,512; Iowa, $1,499; Alabama, $1,474; and New York state, $1,315.
At the bottom of the list, below Rhode Island, is Arizona, $224 and, coming in last, New Hampshire, at $174. Massachusetts, according to the study, ranks 40th for annual per capita health care spending by state and local governments, at $513, with a 4.3% share of total state and local government spending.
By comparison, the national average for state and local health care spending per capita is $980, with a nationwide population of 328.2 million in 2019, and a total state and local health care spending care of 9.6%, amounting to $321.7 billion, a figure that has more than doubled over the past two decades from $127.3 billion in 2000.
“While state and local spending has increased overall, health care also represents an increasing share of the total: in 2000, health care was 8.5% of total spending, while in 2019, that figure rose to 9.6%,” the report states. “Ongoing challenges from the pandemic and efforts to strengthen the health system in the future could further accelerate that growth.”
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter @LaRockPBN.
