Issue Brief #18 focuses on the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is a new source of data for health insurance coverage estimates, with the first year of data (for 2008 calendar year) available in September 2009.  The ACS is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau to provide communities with up-to-date information on key demographics and policy-relevant data.  An important feature of the ACS is that it will include a large enough sample for state-level and sub-state health insurance coverage estimates.  September 2009.