Modeling Health Insurance Coverage Estimates for Minnesota Counties

• Activity Number: 129
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 1, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Joanna Turner*+ and Peter Graven
• Companies: University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota
• Keywords: health insurance coverage ; small area estimates ; MNHA ; county estimates ; ACS

Abstract

The University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) is investigating the feasibility of producing model-based uninsurance estimates for Minnesota counties. County level estimates of health insurance coverage are frequently requested data from the Minnesota Health Access Survey (MNHA), but the survey sample size is not large enough to support estimates for this small geographic area. We build on the work of producing small area estimates for Oklahoma (SHADAC 2009) and use research findings from the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates program to develop a methodology using Bayesian techniques to model Minnesota county level estimates of uninsurance. We explore using the American Community Survey, the MNHA, administrative data sources such as unemployment claims and Medicaid/MHCP enrollment data and correlations over time and geography of these sources for the model. We develop and test the model on the 2009 MNHA data with plans to implement with the 2011 data.