Minnesota ranked as the best state for health care in new study

Whatever you might think the solution is, the health care system is, to put it kindly, complicated. It can be hard to find adequate care, it's expensive, and the whole insurance system is the subject of criticism for raking in big profits while sometimes denying coverage.

Wallethub , the personal finance site that's always pumping out studies, collected data to create a ranked list of the best states for health care in the U.S. Minnesota emerged as the study's top-ranked state for health services.

The company compiled data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia in three major categories: cost, access, and outcomes. Inside of those buckets, it analyzed 44 weighted metrics and scored each state on a 100-point scale, with 100 "representing the best health care at the most reasonable cost."

Minnesota – the home of the Mayo Clinic, UnitedHealthcare and a host of major health companies and hospitals – took the top spot.

It did so for having the highest number of convenient care clinics per capita, Wallethub says. It also boasts the fourth-lowest average out-of-pocket expenses and the sixth-lowest average monthly insurance premium. It also had the fifth-best average cost for dental visits.

Unsurprisingly for a state with so many medical companies, Minnesota ranked well in the quality of health care as well. It was found to have the sixth-best public hospital system and the fifth-highest life expectancy. Importantly, the state also has a low maternal mortality rate — though the national rate remains unequivocally bad when compared to other high-income countries — and the average ER wait time in Minnesota came in at just 16 minutes.

Other Midwestern states ranked reasonably well, too. South Dakota was third, Iowa was fourth, and North Dakota was 11th. Michigan (14th) and Wisconsin (16th) sat in the upper-middle portion of the ranking, while Illinois was ranked 28th.

Related: HealthPartners to drop UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans; blames insurance giant