Ying-Ying Meng

Small-Area Estimation of Health Insurance Coverage for California Legislative Districts

OBJECTIVES To aid state and local policymakers, program planners, and community advocates, we created estimates of the percentage of the population lacking health insurance in small geographic areas of California. METHODS Finally, calibration ensured the consistency and stability of the estimates when they were aggregated. RESULTS Health insurance coverage among nonelderly persons varied widely across assembly districts, from 10% to 44%. The utility of local-level estimates was most apparent when the variations in subcounty uninsured rates in Los Angeles County (19%-44%) were examined. CONCLUSIONS Stable and useful estimates of health insurance rates for small areas such as legislative districts can be created through use of multiple sources of publicly available data.