ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993                   TAG: 9310070182
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

REPORT LOOKS AT STATES' HEALTH COSTS

New England and the mid-Atlantic states spend more per capita on hospitals, physicians and prescription drugs than other regions, while the Southwest and Rocky Mountain states have the lowest health bills, according to a study prepared for Hillary Rodham Clinton's task force.

The report features the government's first comparison of state health expenditures in nearly a decade.

It showed health spending rose faster in New Hampshire than in any other state since 1980 and climbed at the slowest pace in Illinois.

The New England and mid-Atlantic states, not coincidentally, also had more doctors per person than any other part of the country. They also had higher per capita incomes and higher than average elderly populations.

Spending per capita for hospital and physician services and retail purchases of prescription drugs ranged from $2,112 in New England to $1,567 in the Rocky Mountain states - a difference of 35 percent.

- Associated Press 


 by CNB