October 20, 2009: The American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the US Census Bureau, offers a great new opportunity for analysts to assess sub-state health insurance coverage estimates, notably for congressional districts and counties. Researchers from the Urban Institute recently released an analysis of congressional district estimates in their report, "Variation in Insurance Coverage Across Congressional Districts: New Estimates from 2008." The report shows the extensive variation in rates of private and public coverage and uninsurance across congressional districts in the United States and identifies the districts in which residents would have the most to gain from health reforms that are designed to increase health insurance coverage.
With just one year of estimates available, reflecting calendar year 2008, there are still some limits on the current availability of counties. Only larger counties (population of 65,000 or more) are available from the 2008 data. Smaller counties will be available in the future using combined 3-year and 5-year estimates. To date the Census Bureau has released only summary tables of coverage estimates, but a sample of the microdata will be available later this month to allow analysts to explore sub-state estimates in greater details. SHADAC will announce the release of these data with information on where to download.
For more information on the ACS please refer to our issue brief, "An Introduction to the American Community Survey Health Insurance Coverage Estimates."