American well-being at 7 year high

Americans are champions of wishful thinking

Gallup has released its annual Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index, and the numbers are encouraging. 2014 shows the highest levels since measurement started.

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The boost in well-being comes largely from wishful thinking. Americans are reporting the highest levels ever measured when discussing their future. While all this optimism is wonderful, it’s worth noting that Americans’ evaluations of the current state of their lives has not changed meaningfully since 2009.

This may be good news for forward-thinking healthcare organizations. Well-being has been shown to correlate with healthcare utilization and cost, so those at the forefront of population health are well positioned to see high levels of reimbursements. Unfortunately, those lagging may see fewer patients coming through their doors.

A few interesting stats from the report:

New York comes in at 33rd in the nation (ouch), while our neighbor to the east, Vermont, trounces us with a rank of 13. Our Southern neighbors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are 34 and 35, respectively.

Alaska took the top spot after a year-over-year bump of 15 ranks. It may be cold up there, but Alaskans have more sense of purpose than anyone else in the country.

All 10 of the lowest ranked states are in the Midwest or the South. Eight of these 10 are in the east-central region.