Hobbsr: Most Common Health Insurance Claims by State

Monday, February 13, 2017

Most Common Health Insurance Claims by State

As the saying goes, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." But there are times when statistics can be illuminating, if not humorous as well.

For instance, would it surprise you to learn that Floridians lead the nation in head injuries? Or that brawls in the Empire State alone account for ten percent of "medically documented fist fights" in the United States? Each state has its own quirky injury statistics, so here are some numbers on their health insurance claims.

Uncommonly Common Injuries

The data for state-by-state injury analysis comes from over 3,000 International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes, which are logged every time an injured person sees a doctor. The most common physical injuries are pretty normal: bruising, open wounds (injuries where the skin is broken, including minor cuts), and falls. But researchers were also able to suss out the injuries that were more common in some states than others.

For example, residents of Texas, Nebraska, Missouri, and the Carolinas were more prone to insect bites than the rest of the country, and there's an unusual cluster of six western states -- Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada -- where suffocation is disproportionately frequent. Why are Hoosiers more likely to be struck by objects than their Kentucky neighbors? We may never know. But it's not hard to figure out why folks living in the cold and icy climes of South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota suffer from abnormally high rates of spine dislocations, or why so many people in Hawaii, a state fully surrounded by the sea, nearly drown.

Common Insurance Claims

Of course, injuries lead to health insurance claims, and, hopefully for those injured, coverage for the cost of medical attention. But not everyone has health insurance coverage, and not every claim can fully cover the cost of care. Additionally, there are times when even an accidental injury occurs due to another's negligence.

In those cases, you may need to contact an attorney to fully recoup the costs of your medical care, missed time at work, or pain and suffering. Finding one near you is easy.

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