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Description
Statehealthfacts.org is a project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and is designed to provide free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states. Statehealthfacts.org provides data on more than 700 health topics and is linked to both the Kaiser Family Foundation website (www.kff.org) and Kaiser Health News (http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/).
The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. The Foundation serves as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public. The Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.
Information about Health Coverage and Uninsured Topics
The data are based on an analysis of the Census Bureau’s March 2010 and 2011 Current Population Surveys (CPS; Annual Social and Economic Supplements) and are restricted to the civilian (not active duty military) population. The state data represent 2-year averages.
The grouping used for analysis is the health insurance unit (HIU), which groups individuals according to their insurance eligibility, rather than by relatedness or household. A HIU includes members of a nuclear family who can be covered under one health insurance policy. A single household may contain multiple HIUs, and the income and work status of each HIU member is assigned to the HIU to which they belong. This method of analysis has the effect of increasing the number of people who are low-income. Using the HIU as the basis of analysis is important when trying to estimate the number of people who might be affected by health insurance policy changes.
All two-year health coverage estimates are based on the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the US Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS). The ASEC is a survey of around 78,000 households that can be used to examine state-level trends (through multi-year averages), though with large sampling errors. It is useful for producing national estimates of the insured and uninsured populations and historical time series data.
All single-year health coverage estimates are from the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is an ongoing survey of about 2 million households annually and is increasingly relied upon for more robust estimates of state-level data. Data at the county and sub-county levels are also available. Since the ACS health coverage module was implemented in 2008, there are no historical data available. Please see the U.S. Census Bureau for additional details on both surveys.
Coverage Types
Employer: Includes employer-sponsored coverage for employees and their dependents.
Medicaid: Includes those covered by Medicaid, CHIP, and those who have both Medicaid and another type of coverage, such as dual eligibles who are also covered by Medicare.
Medicare: Includes those covered by Medicare only and those with supplemental coverage from another source, such as private retiree insurance.
Individual: Those covered by private insurance other than employer-sponsored coverage.
Other Public: Those covered under the military or Veterans Administration as well as some non-elderly Medicare enrollees.
Uninsured: Those without health insurance and those who have coverage under the Indian Health Service only.
Special note about Medicare population demographics
The CPS-based Medicare topics provided on the “Medicare” category page include those with Medicare only, those with supplemental coverage from another source such as private retiree insurance, and those with both Medicaid and Medicare (dual eligibles).
Special note about Medicaid coverage
We recommend that you use the Medicaid coverage data based on the CPS only to compare these groups to other coverage types or the uninsured. For accurate Medicaid enrollment figures, you should refer to the “Medicaid & CHIP” section, which report data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). While the data based on the CPS is the best source for the distribution of the population’s health insurance coverage, CMS is a more accurate source for the number of individuals enrolled in Medicaid. The CPS, in contrast, is self-reported and reflects point-in-time data, resulting in estimates that are generally lower than the program enrollment data provided by CMS.
Special note about Race/Ethnicity data
In order to present reliable estimates by Racial and Ethnic groups across all states, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Aleutian Islanders, Native Americans and people of Two or More Races are often collapsed into an "Other" category. National data on these groups are provided to the extent possible, and detailed information on state populations of Asian/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans is presented in the Minority Health Category.
Citation
Most of the information available on statehealthfacts.org is public information and may be reproduced for free with appropriate citation.
Please cite data as follows: "The Kaiser Family Foundation, statehealthfacts.org. Data Source:…." The data source may be cited using the reference that appears on this website under "Source."
For example, "The Kaiser Family Foundation statehealthfacts.org. Data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report, Midyear Edition, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2001, "Characteristics of Persons Living with AIDS at the End of 1999."
In a few cases, the data is copyrighted and the authors have requested that the data not be reproduced without express permission. If this is the case, the sourcing information on the website will specify.
If you have questions about data use or if your organization would like to link to statehealthfacts.org, please contact us.
Contact Information
Please feel free to provide input on the site by visiting the feedback tab on the website. You may also call (202) 347-5270 to inquire about the site's content or with general questions.
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