The U.S. Census Bureau has released a report that provides the health insurance coverage estimates for 2008 and 2009 in all of the country’s approximately 3,140 counties.
The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) remains the singular source of health insurance coverage estimates for every one of the nation’s counties. The estimates are provided by age group, gender, income-to-poverty ratios, and race and Hispanic origins (by state only) in terms of relevant data for the new healthcare laws and other health systems and programs.
This data provides local planners with the information they require to identify the areas lacking health insurance coverage in general, as well as for specific groups, such as low-income children.
The data collected is information regarding individuals aged 65 or younger . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other healthcare organizations fund the SAHIE. The statistics are used by the CDC in order to help to support its National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which offers uninsured, low-income women with free screenings for these diseases. The estimates of health insurance help to decide how great the need is for this type of screening within the counties across the country.
The health insurance estimates are built on statistical models which bring together information from a number of different sources such as the population estimates from the Census Bureau, the American Community Survey (ACS), and various types of administrative records, for example, Medicaid participation records, federal tax returns, and the statistics from the 2000 Census.
