The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing general household survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.  The ACS became fully operational in 2005, replacing the long form of the decennial census, and is based on completed interviews with almost two million housing units each year.  The ACS provides annual estimates of economic, social, demographic, and housing information. 

A health insurance coverage question was added to the ACS in 2008.  Since then the ACS has increasingly been used as a source of state-level health insurance estimates, because the survey yields relatively precise state-level estimates of health insurance coverage for the overall population, for key population subgroups, and for sub-state areas in each state.

SHADAC Issue Brief #36 explores the pathways by which subannual ACS estimates could be developed, the feasibility of these pathways, the challenges associated with the development of subannual estimates, and potential next steps to generate subannual estimates.  While the focus of this brief is on developing subannual state-level estimate of health insurance coverage in particular, the strategies discussed could apply to other measures (e.g., employment, family income, and housing arrangements).