Texas Ranks Near the Bottom in Childhood Health, According to Study

Here's a sad finding, but one that should come as little surprise: Texas ranks 5th from the bottom in a new survey of how well states perform in children's health care.

The financial site WalletHub weighed 33 data sets related to cost, quality and access to kids' health care for the study. Among those are the percentage of children in excellent or very good health, pediatricians per capita and — here's the clincher for Lone Star State's shitty ranking — the percentage of uninsured children.

As we have pointed out before, Texas regularly ranks at or near the bottom when it comes to access to health insurance. And, according to this study, it was dead last in percentage of kids with health coverage.

That dismal stat clearly played a role in dragging down other metrics for the state. As numerous studies illustrate, when you don't have health insurance, you tend not to see a doctor until you're really, really sick.

So, remember Texas' uninsured rate when you consider that the study also ranked our state:

• 47th in percentage of kids with excellent or very good teeth
  
• 47th in percentage of kids with excellent or very good health
  
• 46th in percentage of children who had preventative-care visits in the past year
  
• 42nd in percentage of children facing unaffordable medical bills
  
• 35th in percentage of obese children
  

Meanwhile, the State of Texas continues to pursue its legal claim that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional after winning a December court victory toward overturning the federally mandated insurance program.

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