Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Number of uninsured lower than estimated
[Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Number of Uninsured May Be Overstated, Studies Suggest," The Los Angeles Times, 26 April 2005.
Kevin Freking, "Minnesota leads nation in health insurance coverage," Associated Press, The Lawrence Journal-World, 27 April 2005.]
While the estimate of 45 million uninsured in the U.S. has been in question in the past, a consensus definitely seems to be developing that the number is inflated. Such news should be kept in mind as state rankings of the uninsured make headlines around the country:
The number of Americans without health insurance — one of the most watched and worrisome indicators of economic well-being — may be overstated by as much as 20%, according to research conducted for the government.
That could mean 9 million fewer uninsured, reducing the total to 36 million from the 45 million reported for 2003, the latest year for which data are available.
The over-count appears to stem from technical problems with the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, but its implications could have broad consequences for the healthcare debate and for a federal child health program that uses survey data to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the states.
The push to reassess the number of people lacking health insurance came from Michael O'Grady, a top health economist in the Bush administration. As assistant secretary for planning and evaluation in the Health and Human Services Department, he secured funding for two separate studies and is encouraging government statisticians to work out the discrepancies.
In addition to the disparities among the surveys, statistical reports to Washington from the states also point to a problem, O'Grady said. When individual states report the number of people they actually cover each year through Medicaid, many give totals significantly higher than census estimates.
"There is an undercount of Medicaid coverage," said [Charles T. Nelson, assistant chief of the Census Bureau division that handles income, poverty and health statistics]. "We are looking at ways of improving our estimate so people covered by Medicaid report. There are people with coverage out there who are not reporting coverage."
[Matthew Hisrich, "Greatest increase in uninsured found among wealthy," The Flint Hills Center, 10 May 2004.]
[Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, "Number of Uninsured May Be Overstated, Studies Suggest," The Los Angeles Times, 26 April 2005.
Kevin Freking, "Minnesota leads nation in health insurance coverage," Associated Press, The Lawrence Journal-World, 27 April 2005.]
While the estimate of 45 million uninsured in the U.S. has been in question in the past, a consensus definitely seems to be developing that the number is inflated. Such news should be kept in mind as state rankings of the uninsured make headlines around the country:
The number of Americans without health insurance — one of the most watched and worrisome indicators of economic well-being — may be overstated by as much as 20%, according to research conducted for the government.
That could mean 9 million fewer uninsured, reducing the total to 36 million from the 45 million reported for 2003, the latest year for which data are available.
The over-count appears to stem from technical problems with the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, but its implications could have broad consequences for the healthcare debate and for a federal child health program that uses survey data to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the states.
The push to reassess the number of people lacking health insurance came from Michael O'Grady, a top health economist in the Bush administration. As assistant secretary for planning and evaluation in the Health and Human Services Department, he secured funding for two separate studies and is encouraging government statisticians to work out the discrepancies.
In addition to the disparities among the surveys, statistical reports to Washington from the states also point to a problem, O'Grady said. When individual states report the number of people they actually cover each year through Medicaid, many give totals significantly higher than census estimates.
"There is an undercount of Medicaid coverage," said [Charles T. Nelson, assistant chief of the Census Bureau division that handles income, poverty and health statistics]. "We are looking at ways of improving our estimate so people covered by Medicaid report. There are people with coverage out there who are not reporting coverage."
[Matthew Hisrich, "Greatest increase in uninsured found among wealthy," The Flint Hills Center, 10 May 2004.]
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