Date: April 19, 2018
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Central

Watch a recording of the event below, or download the presentation slides and the event transcript.

Event Description

These new estimates come from the Minnesota Health Access Survey (MNHA), which is administered biennially by the Health Economics Program at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) in conjunction with researchers from SHADAC in order to assess health insurance coverage and health care access across the state.

This webinar features researchers from MDH and SHADAC, who discuss the 2017 survey content, results, the context surrounding coverage trends and changes, and the characteristics of the Minnesota’s uninsured in 2017. 

Resources

Minnesota's Changing Health Insurance Landscape: Results from the 2017 Minnesota Health Access Survey

Minnesota's Uninsured in 2017: Rates and Characteristics

Speakers

• Kathleen Call, PhD
  SHADAC Investigator and Professor, Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health
• Stefan Gildemeister, MA
  State Health Economist and Director, Health Economics Program, Minnesota Department of Health
• Alisha Simon, MS
  Supervisor, Access and Cost Containment Unit, Health Economics Program, Minnesota Department of Health

Blewett, LA, Call, KT, Turner J, & Hest, R. (2017). "Data Resources for Conducting Health Services and Policy Research." Annual Review of Public Health 39: 437-452. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040617-013544 

This article examines six federal household surveys that provide data inputs for monitoring the health and health care of the U.S. population and that are important for conducting helath services policy research: American Community Survey, Current Population Survey, National Health Interview Survey, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and Survey of Income and Program Participation.

This brief provides an annual update to comparisons of uninsurance estimates from four federal surveys¹:

• The American Community Survey (ACS)
• The Current Population Survey (CPS)
• The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Household Component (MEPS-HC)
• The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

In this brief, we present current and historical national estimates of uininsurance along with the most recent avaialble state-level estimates from these surveys. We also discuss the main reasons for variation in the estimates across the different surveys.

Download a PDF of the brief.

¹Another federal survey that provides estimates of the uninsured is the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which provides uninsurance estimates for the adult population 18 years and over nationally and among states. Details about the BRFSS are included in Appendix A of the brief, and estimates from the BRFSS are provided in Appendix B.

The map on this page links to tables containing state and county uninsurance estimates for 2016. These estimates come from the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) via the U.S. Census Bureau's American FactFinder (AFF) tool and were released on September 14, 2017. 

Click on a state to see state and county uninsurance rates by characteristics (for example, age, race/ethnicity, and poverty level) for 2016 and comparison year 2015. 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 Change from 2015 to 2016

• Private Coverage Rates by State, Change from 2015 to 2016, for All People
• Public Coverage Rates by State, Change from 2015 to 2016, for All People
• Uninsurance Rates by State, Change from 2015 to 2016, 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 HIU, see SHADAC Brief #27, “Defining Family for Studies of Health Insurance Coverage.”

   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.