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 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.

2010 STATE and COUNTY 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 incomes and income-to-poverty ratios (IPR) less than or equal to 138, 200, 250, and 400 percent of the poverty threshold;
• measures of uncertainty of the estimates;
• and, for states only: White not Hispanic, Black not Hispanic, and Hispanic (any race).

This program is partially funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (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. Also included are IPR categories relevant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2014, the ACA will help 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 from several sources, including:

• 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;
• Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) participation records; and
• Census 2010.

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