How free is PA’s health care market?

The Pacific Research Institute released their U.S. Index of Health Ownership, 2008 last week (full report in PDF).  The report ranks states’ health care markets and regulations based on 24 criteria in 4 categories: Government Health Care, Private Health Insurance, Medical Tort, and Provider Burden of Regulation.

Pennsylvania ranks a lowly 37th overall (though our score is closer to #1 Alabama than #50 New York), while ranking 26th on Government Health Care, 28th on Private Health Insurance, an awful 49th on Tort, and a pretty decent 7th on Provider Regulations.