Why does Wisconsin receive two separate grades for health and health disparity instead of one overall grade?
This Report Card grades Wisconsin separately on health and health disparity in order to assess the state’s progress towards achieving two of the goals outlined by the Healthiest Wisconsin 2010 state health plan: to protect and promote health for all, and eliminate health disparities. Wisconsin’s health grade of B- is based on the average health of its residents and, therefore, is dominated by the health of the majority population. Even if Wisconsin were to receive a grade of A for health, it could still be performing poorly in terms of health disparities and have numerous population subgroups in need of improved health. For these reasons, health and health disparity were assessed separately in this report.
