A report in Bloomberg Businessweek last week decried Oklahoma’s deplorable health rankings, as graded by the United Health Foundation. The report put us at No. 46 overall (and that’s out of 50, in case anyone needs a reminder), and graded the state with a big, whopping “F” (for fatty fried foods) for adult heart disease, lack of physical activity, smoking and diabetes.
Dr. Jenny Alexopulos, president of Oklahoma’s Board of Health, put it simply: “Eat less. Move more. Don’t smoke.
Those are the main things.”
Let’s break down the numbers: the report found that 32 percent of Okies are obese (compared to 27 percent nationwide) and 25.5 percent smoke (compared to 17.9 percent).
On top of that, all these icky health numbers mean the Sooner State has a death rate more than 20 percent higher than the national rate, according to Alexopulos, so it looks like we’re taking that whole “Sooner” persona straight to our laboring, fat-encased hearts.
And if the “diabeetus” doesn’t get us, the uninsured drivers will. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Oklahoma is among the top 10 for uninsured drivers. Nearly 24 percent of people behind the wheel don’t have a lick of auto insurance, and this is the fifth consecutive time the Insurance Research Council has put Oklahoma in the top 10.
So, good news all around then.
