Accuracy in self-reported health insurance coverage among Medicaid enrollees.
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
Kathleen Thiede
KT
Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Mayo Mail Code 729, 420 Delaware St., S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. callx001@umn.edu
Davidson
Gestur
G
Davern
Michael
M
Brown
E Richard
ER
Kincheloe
Jennifer
J
Nelson
Justine G
JG
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010414:Pennsylvania; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult