Congratulations, Florida. You've gotten healthier in the past year.
Cancer deaths are down and smoking has declined.
Of course, there's still a high violent crime rate, a low high school graduation rate and a high incidence of infectious diseases that keep Florida on the bottom rungs of health rankings by state.
The latest study, prepared by United Health Foundation with the American Public Health Association and the Partnership for Prevention, puts Florida at No. 42 nationally, up from No. 43 in 2002. Worst place for health, according to the survey, is Mississippi, at No. 50.
Tied for first place as the healthiest states are Minnesota and New Hampshire. In Minnesota, for instance, only 7.9 percent of residents are without health insurance; in Florida, that number is 17.3 percent.
Violent crime occurs in Minnesota at the rate of 264 offenses per 100,000 people; in Florida, it's 797 offenses for every 100,000.
And while 18.8 percent of children under 18 live in poverty in Florida, just 8.4 percent of children in Minnesota are under the poverty line.
Minnesotans, not prone to bragging, temper the praise from outsiders with a footnote in the survey, admitting that their state has one of the highest African-American teen pregnancy rates in the nation.
"Minnesota is proud to be one of the healthiest states in the nation," the note says. "The state's high rank, however, masks serious health disparities." It adds that the Minnesota Legislature has allocated funds to try to erase such disparities. No mention of similar funding is made under Florida's entry.
