Understanding the current population survey's insurance estimates and the Medicaid 'undercount'.
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.
Klerman
Jacob A
JA
Abt Associates in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Jacob_Klerman@abtassoc.com
Davern
Michael
M
Call
Kathleen Thiede
KT
Lynch
Victoria
V
Ringel
Jeanne D
JD
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