A L A B A M A S TAT E D ATA C E N T E R

Health Insurance Estimates

Annette WattersAlabama State Data Center

November 2011

Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration

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Health Insurance Estimates from the Census Bureau’s Surveys

SIPP – national data only

CPS - State level data only

ACS – Comes in 3 flavors:

1-year estimates

3-year estimates

5-year estimates

Don’t mix and match.Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration, The University of Alabama 2

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ACS Health Insurance EstimatesGo to American Fact Finder

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml

Look for Table B27001

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Advantages of the ACS Estimates

Available on AFF2

Timely – health insurance tables come out every year.

Tables for different age groups and for males and females, sometimes for different races

Gives an estimate for small geographies

You can get ACS health insurance estimates for places

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Disadvantages of the ACS Estimates

The ACS reports only what people fill out on their survey forms.

The estimates are limited by how many surveys the Census Bureau has collected.

(Sometimes ACS numbers are no d--- good.)

For small areas the ACS estimates cover a 3-year or a 5-year average time period, instead of just one year at a time.

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Disadvantages of the ACS Estimates

You have to combine males and females to get a total.

You have to combine age groups.

You have to be concerned about recalculating the margins of error every time you combine anything.

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CPS Health Insurance Tableshttp://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/

data/index.html

Disadvantage: State level data only

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CPS Health Insurance Advantages

Updated every year

Several age groups

Only source of information about type of coverage:

Private insurance

Medicaid

Medicare

Military

Can compare all states equallyAlabama State Data Center, Culverhouse College of Commerce , The University of Alabama 8

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Model-Based Health Insurance Estimates from the Census Bureau

SAHIE = Small Area Health Insurance Estimates

Estimates of health insurance coverage at the county level for every county in the United States, updated every year.

http://www.census.gov/did/www/sahie/index.html

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SAHIE estimates are not based on a survey

They are based on a model. Inputs from several sources:

The population estimates program at the Census Bureau

Federal tax returns

County Business Patterns

Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

The Supplemental Nutrition Program (formerly food stamps)

The American Community Survey (SAHIE uses data from the ACS from all counties, even those where the sample size is so small that the data cannot be published in ACS tables.)

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Advantages and Disadvantages of the SAHIE Estimates

The SAHIE estimates are more reliable because they use more data sources.

SAHIE gives comparable estimates for every county.

But there is a time lag. (2008 and 2009 became available in 2011.)

Because of methodological changes, the 2008 and 2009 estimates are not comparable to 2007 and previous estimates.

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New Feature on the SAHIE page!

Maps can be created!

for any SAHIE demographic and income combination in the 2008 and 2009 estimates.

http://www.census.gov/did/www/sahie/data/maps/index.html?reload

Or click on the icon on the main SAHIE page.

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