County Level Uninsured Estimates

There is a lot of interest in county-level estimates of the uninsured in North Carolina. The media use this information to characterize the distribution of the uninsured across the state; grant applicants use the data to characterize the barriers to health care access in their community. Some of my work in this area was supported by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine.

On March 23, 2007, the Census Bureau announced it has miscalculated the number of uninsured since 1995. This error affects all the estimates below, but many researchers, including me, consider the relative comparisons (such as between income groups or states, and trends over time) more interesting than absolute comparisons. To the extent that all estimates are wrong by about the same amount, the relative comparisons are still interesting and useful.

Below we provide convenient links to some different data sources.

Sheps Center Estimates

Since 2000, Sheps Center staff have provided county-level estimates of the uninsured in North Carolina for the 0-17, 18-64, and 0-64 year old age groups. Although the authors have changed over the years, the general analytical approach remains the same.

NOTE: Because data sources and methodology differ between the reports, direct comparison of rates from different periods should be viewed with caution. For example, it is not recommended that the change in the uninsured rate in individual counties be too literally interpreted. The estimates here are useful for examining relative conditions -- for example, one county has more uninsured than another, or conditions have generally declined in one county -- but changes over time should not be attributed to being caused by particular events.