Report for Phase I of the Medicaid Undercount Project (SNACC).  This phase involved creating a national database of health-insurance enrollment and evaluate the quality of the information it contains. This was done by merging the CMS Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS) files with the CMS Medicare (EDB) files. The quality of the database of health-insurance enrollment was evaluated by assessing the ability to accurately merge the input files and by comparing the characteristics of the individuals in the database to expectations based on Medicaid eligibility rules and characteristics of the U.S. population.  February 2007.

Download a PDF of the Phase I SNACC report.

For more information see SHADAC's web page for the Medicaid Undercount Project.

Presentation by Lynn Blewett to the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division in St. Paul, MN, August 18 2009.

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This report presents findings from a statewide survey of 4,626 Minnesota Health Care Program (MHCP) enrollees conducted either by mail or by telephone between July and December 2008. This survey was funded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and had four major goals. The first was to identify and describe barriers to, and experiences with, health care among adults and children who receive health insurance through Minnesota Health Care Programs (MHCP). A second goal was to identify and describe similarities and differences in the use of health services, as well as factors that discourage the use of services among specific race/ethnic groups including African Americans (US born), Native American, Hispanic/Latino, Somali, Hmong, and European Americans. A third goal was to identify changes in utilization of care and the types of barriers people experienced between 2003 and 2008. (A similar study was undertaken in 2003.) The final goal was to develop recommendations based on the results of the survey with community input for improving the delivery of health care services to MHCP enrollees and reducing disparities in access and quality. June 2009.

Presentation by Lynn A. Blewett to the Minnesota Health Care Reform Review Council at the Minnesota Department of Revenue, St. Paul, MN, June 18 2009.

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The largest portion of the Medicaid undercount is caused by survey reporting error; that is, Medicaid recipients misreport their enrollment in health insurance coverage surveys. In this study, we sampled known Medicaid enrollees to learn how they respond to health insurance questions and to document correlates of accurate and inaccurate reports. We found that Medicaid enrollees are fairly accurate reporters of insurance status and type of coverage, but some do report being uninsured. Multivariate analyses point to the prominent role of program-related factors in the accuracy of reports. Our findings suggest that the Medicaid undercount should not undermine confidence in survey-based estimates of uninsurance.

Call, K.T., G. Davidson, M. Davern, E.R. Brown, J.E. Kincheloe, J.G. Nelson. 2008. "Accuracy of self-reported health insurance coverage among Medicaid enrollees." Inquiry 45(4): 438-56.

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