Research from U.S. Census Bureau Provides New Study Findings on Social Science (Categorization of Health Insurance Coverage Type from Survey Questions after Health Reform: The Case of the Current Population Survey): Science – Social Science

2024 MAY 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- A new study on social science is now available. According to news reporting out of Washington, District of Columbia, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Measuring health insurance in surveys has always been challenging, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced considerable ambiguities.”

Financial supporters for this research include Medica Research Institute; University of Minnesota; U.S. Census Bureau; Dhhs Office of The Secretary; State Health Access Data Assistance Center; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from U.S. Census Bureau: “For example, the public/private line was blurred with the introduction of marketplace coverage, which is considered private coverage even though in some cases, it is partially or fully subsidized by the government. This study uses a rigorous design where administrative records are linked to survey data. We compare alternative algorithms that employ survey data points found in several major national surveys to categorize coverage type, focusing on the very difficult challenge of separating private marketplace coverage from public coverage.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “This is important, given researchers’ and policymakers’ need to produce estimates of public versus private coverage from survey data. Results indicate that integrating a data point on plan name reduces a more simplistic algorithm’s overestimation of marketplace coverage and results in significant improvements in accurate categorization across public and private coverage types.”

For more information on this research see: Categorization of Health Insurance Coverage Type from Survey Questions after Health Reform: The Case of the Current Population Survey. Journal of Applied Social Science, 2024. The publisher for Journal of Applied Social Science is SAGE Publications.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/19367244241245953.

Our news editors report that more information may be obtained by contacting Joanne Pascale, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, United States. Additional authors for this research include Angela R. Fertig, Kathleen T. Call.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the authors of this research: Joanne Pascale (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4347-3353), Angela R. Fertig (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5240-3800).

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