With health care taking up an increasingly large segment of people's budgets—whether covered by health insurance or not—some states definitely do better by their residents than others. WalletHub took a look at each state (and Washington, D.C.) and how it provides care for its residents, and spoke to experts about some of the top questions facing people today. Even though figures from the CDC indicate that some 87.6 percent of Americans have a regular place for health care, that doesn't mean they're all getting equal treatment, or paying comparable prices for what they get. WalletHub's scores are based on 43 metrics, broken down into categories based on cost, access and outcomes. Care costs a lot more in some places, while in others it's cheaper—but that still doesn't mean that either is as good as the other. According to Linda V. Green, Cain Brothers & Company Professor of Healthcare Management, Columbia Business School, Decision, Risk and Operations Division, one of the experts cited in the report, there are some things people can do to cut their health care bills. While it may sound counterintuitive for someone who is actually seeking care, questioning "the need for any office visit, hospitalization, imaging, lab work, or procedure being recommended by their physician" is one way Green says people can cut their bills. Thanks to the "huge amount of overuse and waste in health care," stemming from consumers' insistence on receiving tests and medications that may not really be necessary, physicians' habits, the profit motive and "a disregard for the costs involved due to third-party payment," says Green, means that people may end up paying for care that they don't really need or that does little to nothing to improve their health. Stephen F. Gambescia, a professor with Drexel University's College of Nursing and Health Professions, views the shift by employers to employees of the cost of care as an issue that will continue to rise and affect more workers. He points out that "the average annual health insurance premiums and workers' contribution from family coverage went from $2,713 in 2005 to $4955 in 2015—an 83 percent worker increase," and adds that employers are taking a variety of steps to get themselves out of managing health insurance: not just shifting cost to employees, but also "reducing benefits, giving checks for which employees can buy their own insurance, and joining cooperatives that can promote cost-sharing, among other strategies." Pursuing well visit checkups and screening tests, as well as committing to a healthy lifestyle, he adds, are good ways for workers to minimize expenditures. Carolyn A. Watts of Virginia Commonwealth University recommends checking on prices prior to receiving any health care services, when possible, which can be a big help in reining in costs. While it's not always possible to do that—in emergency situations, for instance—getting into the habit of checking other prices, such as for medications and elective procedures, can go a long way toward keeping routine costs down.