Local News
Wisconsin health report card shows disparities across board
Education, population and race all taken into account.
A yearly health report card for Wisconsin shows big disparities in race, income and education levels.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison report was divided into four age levels: Infants, 1-24, 25-64, 65-over.
Wisconsin’s health disparity grade was a D across the board, save for working age adults (C).
“Our job is to figure out how we reduce those disparities,” Dr. Marilu Bintz from Gundersen Health System said. “And how do we figure out how we bring everyone to more of a level playing field in terms of their health outcome?”
The state’s overall health grade was a B, B-, except for infants, which were graded C.
Within the age scale, the report measured death rate for all ages and unhealthy days for the oldest two groups, which was also all over the board depending on education, population and race.
“An inquiry about how many unhealthy days have you had,” Bintz explained. “(It’s) a little bit subjective but nonetheless very valuable, because the individuals perception of their own health is very important.”
View the entire report here.