This report includes two types of health insurance coverage measures: health insurance coverage during the entire
calendar year and health insurance coverage at the time of the interview.
The first measure, coverage at any time during the calendar year, is collected with the Current Population Survey
Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). The CPS is the longest-running survey conducted by the Census
Bureau. The key purpose of the CPS ASEC is to provide timely and detailed estimates of economic well-being, of
which health insurance coverage is an important part.
The CPS ASEC is conducted annually between February and
April, and the resulting measure of health insurance coverage reflects an individual’s coverage during the entire
previous calendar year.
The second measure is the health insurance coverage status an individual reported at the time of the interview,
which is collected in the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is an ongoing
survey that collects comprehensive
information on social, economic, and housing topics. Due to its large sample size, the ACS provides estimates at
many levels of geography. Estimates reflect an annual average of current health insurance coverage status.
As a result of the difference in the collection of health insurance coverage status, the resulting uninsured rates
measure different concepts. The CPS ASEC uninsured rate represents the percentage of people who had no health
insurance coverage at any time during the previous calendar year. The ACS uninsured rate is a measure of the
percentage of people who were uninsured at the time of the interview.
For more information on health insurance coverage estimates from these two surveys, see the section “National
Changes in Health Insurance Coverage.”
