Small Area Health Insurance Estimates

About SAHIE

The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) program was created to develop model-based estimates of health insurance coverage for counties and states. This developmental program builds on the work of the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program. Data on health insurance coverage for all counties are not currently available elsewhere. For the fall 2011, the American Community Survey provides 3-year health insurance estimates for areas with a total population size of 20,000 or more.

We recently released 2008 and 2009 COUNTY estimates of people with and without health insurance coverage by:

• ages 0-64, 18-64 and 40-64;
• female, male, and both sexes;
• all incomes and less than or equal to 138, 200, 250 or 400 percent of the poverty threshold;
• a special estimate for the 0-18 age group for 'both sexes,' and 'all incomes,' less than or equal to 138, 200, 250, or 400 percent of the poverty threshold; and
• measures of uncertainty of the estimates.

We also recently released 2008 and 2009 STATE estimates of people with and without health insurance coverage by:

• ages 0-64, 18-64, 40-64 and 50-64;
• female, male, and both sexes;
• all races, White not Hispanic, Black not Hispanic, and Hispanic (any race);
• all incomes, less than or equal to 138, 200, 250 and 400 percent of the poverty threshold;
• a special estimate for the 0-18 age group for 'both sexes,' and 'all incomes,' less than or equal to 138, 200, 250, 400 percent of the poverty threshold; and
• measures of uncertainty of the estimates.

This program is partially funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). The CDC have a congressional mandate to provide screening services for breast and cervical cancer to low-income, uninsured, and underserved women through the NBCCEDP. Most state NBCCEDP programs define low-income as 200 or 250 percent of the poverty threshold. Therefore, we have cut the data by these IPR groups. Also, we have included two new IPR categories in this release which are reflective of the recent Health Care Reform initiative. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act helps families gain access to health care by allowing Medicaid to cover families with incomes less than or equal to 138 percent of the poverty line. Families with incomes above the level needed to qualify for Medicaid, but less than or equal to 400 percent of the poverty line can receive tax credits that will help them pay for health coverage in the new health insurance exchanges.

We welcome your feedback as we continue to research and improve our estimation methods. The SAHIE program's age model methodology and estimates have undergone internal U.S. Census Bureau review as well as external review. See the SAHIE Methodological Review page for more details and a summary of the comments and our response.

The SAHIE program models health insurance coverage by combining survey data with population estimates and administrative records. Our estimates are based on data from the following sources:

• The American Community Survey;
• Demographic population estimates;
• Aggregated federal tax returns;
• Participation records for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program;
• County Business Patterns;
• Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) participation records; and
• Census 2000.

For further information on these data sources, see information about data inputs.