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90 IS GREAT when you answer 90 out of 100 questions right. Not such great news when you’re measuring the overall health of 150 of the most populous US cities. On the other hand, Philly is only 121st in the cost of a medical visit. Cold comfort, perhaps.
We’re also 9th in “fat prevalence,” a fancy scientific way of saying we’re the 9th-fattest city in the country. How does that square with the fact that Philly ranks as the 40th-best city for the number of healthy restaurants per capita? Does that mean we head out to healthy restaurants and then just eat too much?
Fat prevalence has consequences, too: Philly is close to the top third of cities (No. 55, to be precise) in weight-related problems.
The City of Brotherly Love is 6th in the nation when it comes to the number of mental-health counselors per capita. Good thing: We’re also the 19th-most-stressed population.
WalletHub.com, which recently announced its 2017 rankings, compared all sorts of metrics, such as “cost of doctor visit” and “fruit and vegetable consumption” and “fitness clubs per capita.” Overall, Philadelphia ranks a fairly dismal 90th among the 150 cities in overall health, so there’s definitely room for improvement.
Here’s how to read the numbers below: There are four major categories, Health Care, Food, Fitness and Green Space.
Then there are the particulars. For the cost of a medical visit, Philadelphia is No. 121, meaning a Philly doc or hospital will charge more than one in Jacksonville, Florida, or Laredo, Texas, the two least expensive cities, but less than Nos. 1 through 120. The overall health ranking of 90 includes cost but also the “premature death rate,” the number of family doctors per capita and other metrics.
So let’s face this squarely and make plans to do better next year.
—Nancy McKeon
SOURCE: WalletHub.com
