State Health Insurance Coverage

Characteristics of the Uninsured and Individuals with Select Health Insurance Coverage in Michigan
This site gives access to briefs and reports concerning the uninsured in Michigan.  It is updated annually with a new report giving the most up to date Current Population Survey (CPS) insurance statistics for Michigan.

• Current Population Survey (CPS)
  Released every August/September.  The Current Population Survey (CPS), Annual Social and Economic Supplement, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, is the most accepted and frequently used data for federal planning purposes and for state-to-state comparisons, and is the primary source for MDCH reports and analysis on health insurance coverage.  Persons are considered uninsured if they were not covered by any type of health insurance or public coverage plan for the entire calendar year prior to the interview.  Data breakouts are available by age, gender, income, employment, race, family size and type, education, marital status, type of coverage, and year.
• Current Population Survey Table Creator
  If looking for other breakouts of health insurance data, it is best to check the CPS Table Creator.  The table creator allows the user a variety of variables in which to find sub-populations of the uninsured.  It does not give county level breakdowns.

State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)
This website is run by the University of Minnesota funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help states monitor rates of health insurance coverage and to understand factors associated with uninsurance.

• They have a Michigan State Health Access Profile describing some of the major health insurance statistics.
• They have a white paper on the new data source from the American Community Survey, An Introduction to the American Community Survey Health Insurance Coverage Estimates , September 2009.
• They also explain the differences between all the federal uninsured data sources in Comparing Federal Government Surveys that Count Uninsured People in America , September 2009.

County Level Uninsured Statistics

Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE)
The Census Bureau's SAHIE program produces estimates of health insurance coverage for states and all counties.  In July 2005, SAHIE released the first nation-wide set of county level estimates on the number of people without health insurance coverage for all ages and those under 18 years old.  In August 2009, SAHIE released 2006 estimates of health insurance coverage by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, and income categories at the state level and by age, sex, and income categories at the county level.

American Community Survey (ACS)
A new source for county level data is available for the first time in 2009 through the American Community Survey.  The U.S. Census Bureau released data from the 2008 ACS in September 2009.  The release included all one-year estimates from the 2008 ACS - including ACS income and poverty estimates.  In addition to the full complement of social, economic, and housing data, this release also includes estimates on health insurance coverage, marital history, and veteran's service-connected disability ratings, for the first time.  These estimates are available for the nation, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, every congressional district and all counties, places and metropolitan areas with populations of 65,000 or more.

Health Care Policy

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
The mission of RWJF is to improve the health and health care of all Americans.  Their goal is to help Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need.  They have up to date reports on current issues surrounding the uninsured, policies and programs that are expanding health coverage and maximizing enrollment.

• State Coverage Initiatives (SCI)
  The SCI program provides timely, experience-based information and assistance to state leaders in order to help them move health care reform forward at the state level.  SCI offers an integrated array of policy and technical assistance services and products to help state leaders with coverage expansion efforts as well as with broader health care reform.  A team of policy experts tailors its approach to meeting state decision maker's needs within the context of each state's unique fiscal and political environment.  SCI is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation administered by AcademyHealth.  They also have a State Profile of Michigan, giving uninsured and insurance statistics.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
A leader in health policy and communications, 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.  Unlike grant-making foundations, Kaiser develops and runs its own research and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with other non-profit research organizations or major media companies.  Kaiser is a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public.  Kaiser's product is information, always provided free of charge - from the most sophisticated policy research, to basic facts and numbers, to information young people can use to improve their health or elderly people can use to understand their Medicare benefits.

• State Health Facts
  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 on all 50 states.  Statehealthfacts.org provides data on more than 500 health topics and is linked to both the Kaiser Family Foundation webiste and KaiserNetwork.org.  The site has state-level information not only on uninsured but health costs, Medicaid, and private health insurance.

Health Care Quality

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The State Snapshops provide state-specific health care quality information, including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.  The goal is to help state officials and their public and private sector partners better understand health care quality and disparities in their state.  State level information used to create the State Snapshots is based on data collected for the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR).   The National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and the National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) measure trends in effectiveness of care, patient safety, timeliness of care, patient centeredness, and efficiency of care.  The reports present, in chart form, the latest available findings on quality of and access to health care.

• Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
  MEPS is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals, their medical providers, and employers accross the United States.  MEPS collects data on the specific health services that Americans use, how frequently they use them, the cost of these services, and how they are paid for, as well as data on cost, scope, and breadth of health insurance held by and available to U.S. workers.  The survey is sponsored by AHRQ and data is available annually in the summer.
• Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP)
  HCUP is a family of health care databases and related software tools and products developed through a Federal-State-Industry partnership and sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  HCUP databases bring together the data collection efforts of State data organizations, hospital associations, private data organizations, and the Federal government to create a national information resource of patient level health care data (HCUP Partners).  HCUP includes the largest collection of longitudinal hospital care data in the United States, with all-payer, encounter level information beginning in 1988.