title: Understanding the current population survey's insurance estimates and the Medicaid 'undercount'.
abstract: The widely cited Census Bureau estimates of the number of uninsured people, based on the Current Population Survey, probably overstate the number of uninsured people. This is because of a Medicaid "undercount": Fewer people report to survey takers that they're covered by Medicaid than program administrative data show are enrolled. Our study finds that the undercount can be explained by the inability of people to recall their insurance status accurately from the previous year. We suggest that other data sources, such as Census's American Community Survey, should be studied to determine whether they would provide better estimates of the uninsured.
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Jacob_Klerman@abtassoc.com
authors.forename: Jacob A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Klerman
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davern
authors.forename: Kathleen Thiede
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Call
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: Jeanne D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Ringel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019352:Censuses; D003625:Data Collection; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States