Health Insurance in the Current Population Survey: Now and Later?

• Activity Number: 74
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 4, 2013 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Government Statistics Section
• Author(s): Carla Medalia*+
• Companies: US Census Bureau
• Keywords: CPS ; health insurance ; survey design ; healthcare reform

Abstract

The CPS ASEC generates widely used estimates on health insurance coverage and the uninsured. Research has shown that the calendar-year measure is flawed and that estimates reflect a mixture of current and past year coverage. To address this concern, as well as to take advantage of technological advances in survey implementation and to add important new content to the instrument, the Census Bureau substantially redesigned the ASEC health insurance module, which will be fielded in a large national test in March 2013. This paper compares the structure of the current ASEC to the redesigned instrument, highlighting three key areas of difference. First, we demonstrate that changes in the design of the instrument require different approaches to estimate the uninsured rate and insurance rates by plan type. Second, the redesign requires new methods to calculate nonresponse and allocate missing data. Third, the redesign incorporates new content, including employer-sponsored insurance offers and take-up, and health coverage through insurance exchanges, which will be introduced by the Affordable Care Act beginning October 2013. The redesigned instrument may replace the ASEC in 2014.