September 10, 2009. Today is a busy day at SHADAC because the Census Bureau released health insurance coverage estimates for calendar year 2008. These estimates, from the Current Population Survey (CPS), show that 46.3 million people in the United States are uninsured, or 15.4 percent of the population. This is up from 2007, although not by a statistically significant amount.
This data release is important because the estimates are the first comprehensive state-by-state look at the number of uninsured in the United States for 2008. Regardless of what reform is passed at the federal level, the states need to take the directive and apply reform within the context of their own populations, budgets, health systems, insurance markets, and political environments. These estimates help states understand how many people have coverage or not, and if so what type of coverage they have.
To help analysts understand the CPS estimates and any new issues pertinent to this release, SHADAC is hosting a conference call tomorrow, September 11, at 1:00 PM EDT. This call is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required at this link.
This year we have a new twist on health insurance coverage estimates. On September 22 the Census Bureau will release another set of 2008 estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS), which began collecting health insurance coverage information last year. SHADAC just released an issue brief that provides and introduction to this survey, available for download at this link. SHADAC will also host a webinar on September 23 to review the data release and help analysts understand this new source of estimates. The webinar is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required at link.
More information is usually better for analysts. However, these multiple sources of health insurance coverage estimates can also create confusion in the policy arena because each survey invariably provides a different estimate. Each year SHADAC updates an issue brief for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation titled, "Comparing Comparing Federal Government Surveys that Count Uninsured People in America." This brief, available for download at this link, provides a summary of the key differences in the major surveys and reasons for these differences.
Health Affairs posted a blog last week by Michael O’Grady, "Unstable Ground: The need for better data to make better health care policy," available at this link. O’Grady accurately describes the upper-level policy problems associated with these varying health insurance coverage estimates. From this perspective more is not better, and O’Grady asserts that "there is a dire need in the federal government for a real data policy. This data policy would ensure coordination across survey teams; provide sufficient funding of major surveys and other data collection, linked files, and models; and make an early and aggressive investment in methodological work." In the meantime health policy analysts must use what they have, and SHADAC continues to help them understand the available resources.
Here's a recap of the links mentioned in this blog:
- Registration for our CPS conference call and/or ACS webinar.
- The CPS estimates and report, "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2007."
- RWJF Issue Brief, "Comparing Comparing Federal Government Surveys that Count Uninsured People in America."
- SHADAC’s Issue Brief, "An Introduction to the American Community Survey Health Insurance Coverage Estimates."
- Michael O’Grady’s blog post, "Unstable Ground: The need for better data to make better health care policy."