Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO) has released its latest policy brief, “Closing Ohio’s Health Gaps: Moving towards Equity.”
Not all Ohioans have the same opportunity to live a healthy life based on geography, race and ethnicity, disability status, income, education, or other social, economic, or demographic factors. Because of this, many groups of Ohioans experience troubling gaps in health outcomes. For example, there is more than a 29-year gap in life expectancy at birth depending on where a person lives in Ohio.
HPIO’s new policy brief provides data and information on Ohio’s health gaps and barriers groups of Ohioans face to being healthy. The brief highlights that making healthy choices is critical to good health. These choices are often shaped by the environments in which a person lives. Because of this, many groups of Ohioans face barriers to being healthy due to, for example, unequal access to high-quality education, a job that pays a self-sufficient income and adequate, stable housing.
The brief provides examples of evidence-based approaches to close Ohio’s health gaps and a framework for action to achieve health equity at the community level. Closing Ohio’s health gaps requires a comprehensive approach involving public and private-sector stakeholder collaboration with state policymakers to evaluate, improve, and scale up effective strategies across the state.
Ohio has seen a worsening in health outcomes and an increase in healthcare spending relative to other states over the past few decades and ranks 46th out of 50 states and Washington, D.C., on health value, based on Ohio’s 2017 Health Value Dashboard. Improving health value in Ohio means closing Ohio’s health gaps and ensuring that every Ohioan has the same opportunity for a healthy life.