Blog & News
September 23rd Webinar - An Annual Conversation with the U.S. Census Bureau: 2019 Health Insurance Coverage Data from the American Community Survey (ACS) & Current Population Survey (CPS)
September 4, 2020:On Wednesday, September 23, 2020, SHADAC researchers and U.S. Census Bureau experts held a webinar that examined the new 2019 health insurance coverage data at both the national and the state level, as well as by coverage type, from both the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).
In addition to further details on important health insurance coverage data and trends,
webinar attendees learned about:
- When to use which estimates from which survey
- How to access the estimates via Census reports and Census data site: data.census.gov
- How to access state-level estimates from the ACS using SHADAC tables
Panelists on this webinar included:
Lynn Blewett, PhD - the founding Director of SHADAC, as well as a Professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, where she teaches graduate courses on the U.S. health care system and international health systems. Dr. Blewett has a committed history in working and researching health policy, access to care, Medicaid coverage, and payment policy with experience at both the state and national levels. She has expertise in leading applied policy research, directing research with diverse funding, analyzing state and federal data resources and translating research to inform health policy. Her health policy experience includes legislative work for the U.S. Senate and state policy work as Director of the Health Economics Program for the Minnesota Department of Health. Dr. Blewett holds a Ph.D. and a master's in Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Laryssa Mykyta, PhD - the chief of the Health and Disability Statistics Branch in the Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division at the U.S. Census Bureau. The Health and Disability Statistics Branch is primarily responsible for analyzing and publishing data collected on health insurance coverage, health status and health care utilization, and disability. These data are collected in the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, the American Community Survey, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Her research interests focus on how changing economic conditions influence health and well-being. Ms. Mykyta was previously an assistant professor in sociology and director of the Center for Survey Research and Policy Analysis at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Ms. Mykyta received her doctorate in sociology and demography from the University of Pennsylvania.
Katherine Keisler-Starkey, PhD - an Economist and Survey Statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau. Ms. Keisler-Starkey's research interests focus on Applied Microeconomics, including Health Economics, Public Finance, and Labor Statistics. Ms. Keisler-Starkey received a Ph.D in Economics, a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Robert Hest, MPP - manages SHADAC’s State Health Compare website, coordinating data processing, quality assurance, dissemination and documentation of data used on the cite. Robert also works on SHADAC’s Minnesota Long-term Care Projection Model (MN-LPM), which projects future long-term care utilization and spending among older adults in Minnesota. In addition, Mr. Hest leads a project tracking and analyzing 1332 State Innovation Waivers for State-Based Reinsurance programs. Before joining the SHADAC staff as a Research Fellow in October 2017, Robert worked at SHADAC as a Graduate Research Assistant. He earned his Master of Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs with an emphasis in Policy Analysis, and he received his Bachelor of Arts from Carleton College in Political Science.
A recording of the webinar is available to view and download at the top of this page, and slides and a transcript are also available for download.
Related Resources
2019 ACS Tables: State and County Uninsured Rates, with Comparison Year 2018
Publication
2019 ACS Tables: State and County Uninsured Rates, with Comparison Year 2018
The interactive map on this page links to tables containing state and county uninsurance estimates for 2019. These estimates come from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) via the U.S. Census Bureau's data.census.gov tool.
Click on a state below to see state and county uninsurance rates by characteristics (for example, age, race/ethnicity, and poverty level) for 2019 and comparison year 2018. Due to sample size constraints, single-year ACS estimates are available at the county level only for counties with a population greater than 65,000.
Click here to view uninsurance estimates for the United States.
Click here to view uninsurance estimates for Puerto Rico and its municipios.
Note: These tables present uninsured rates, which indicate the share of the population that is uninsured. For example, a 10 percent uninsured rate for adult women indicates that 10 percent of all adult women are uninsured.
Additional Estimates (50-State Comparisons)
Maps & Tables of Private, Public, & Uninsured Changes from 2018 to 2019
Private Coverage Rates by State, Change from 2018 to 2019, for All People
Public Coverage Rates by State, Change from 2018 to 2019, for All People
Uninsurance Rates by State, Change from 2018 to 2019, for All People
About the ACS
The ACS is a household survey that began in 2005 and produces annually updated data on a variety of population characteristics, including health insurance coverage. In total, the ACS surveys approximately three million US households each year. An important feature of the ACS is that it includes a large enough sample for state‐level and sub‐state estimates.
The ACS began asking survey respondents about health insurance coverage during the 2008 calendar year. Specifically, the survey asks respondents about current coverage for each person in the respondent’s household. A person is categorized as “insured” if he or she has coverage at the point in time at which the survey is administered.
Why Aren’t Estimates Provided for All Counties?
Due to sample size constraints, single-year ACS estimates are available at the county level only for counties with a population greater than 65,000.
How Are These Estimates Different from the Estimates that SHADAC Publishes Using Census Bureau Micro-Data Files?
Two definitions used by the Census Bureau to generate the tabulations above differ from those that SHADAC uses to generate tabulations for State Health Compare. The definitional differences are as follows:
Family
- The Census Bureau defines a family as all related people in a household.
- SHADAC defines a family using a measure called the “Health Insurance Unit” (HIU), which includes all individuals who would likely be considered a family unit in determining eligibility for either private or public coverage.
- To learn more about the 2020 update of SHADAC's Health Insurance Unit (HIU) click here.
Family Income
- The Census Bureau determines family income as a percentage of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), which is a definition of poverty used primarily for statistical purposes. For example, FPL is used to estimate the number of Americans living in poverty each year.
- SHADAC determines family income as a percentage of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG), which is a measure used for administrative purposes. For example, FPG is used to determine eligibility for federal programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
- To learn more about the difference between FPL and FPG click here.
Related ACS Materials:
- New Subsidized Marketplace Data and Other Data Tables Now Available from the 2019 American Community Survey (ACS)
- 2019 ACS: Rising National Uninsured Rate Echoed Across 19 States; Virginia Only State to See Decrease (Infographics)
- 2019 ACS: Insurance Coverage Overall Fell Nationwide and among the States, with Private and Public Coverage Declines Seen at the State Level