Location, Location, Location: Leveraging Interactive Maps, Administrative and Census Data to Find and Describe the Remaining Eligible for Coverage in the ACA Marketplaces

• Activity Number: 358
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Health Policy Statistics Section
• Author(s): Brett Fried* and Elizabeth Lukanen and Karen Turner
• Companies: SHADAC/University of Minnesota and SHADAC/University of Minnesota and SHADAC/University of Minnesota
• Keywords: health ; insurance ; marketplaces ; community level data ; outreach ; case studies

Abstract

To improve Health Insurance Marketplace outreach, enrollment and evaluation by providing community level estimates of the number and characteristics of the remaining eligible. Illinois and Minnesota were chosen as case studies to illustrate two very different approaches. The remaining eligible for the Marketplaces was estimated by subtracting the number of enrollees (administrative data) from census estimates of the number eligible in each region. The community level characteristics of those eligible was used as a proxy for the characteristics of the remaining eligible

Unlike for Minnesota, the Illinois approach (PUMA level estimates) has the advantage of being able to more precisely define those eligible. However, using the Minnesota approach (Zip Code level estimates) has the advantage that it is possible to identify high local concentrations of the remaining eligible (even in areas of low population density). The Minnesota case study also demonstrates the utility of using interactive maps. Both of these approaches demonstrate simple, transparent methods for using publicly available data to inform health insurance marketplace outreach and evaluation.