Definitions: Children under age 18 who were not covered by health insurance at any point during the year.
Data Source: The Urban Studies Institute at the University of Louisville, analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (March supplement), 1990 through 2006 (including March 2001 bridge file). Population Reference Bureau, analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (March supplement), 2007 through 2009.
Footnotes:
Health insurance includes private sector insurance generally provided through work, as well as insurance provided through the public sector, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Children receiving health insurance through a variety of new State Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP) are counted as having health insurance. The figures shown here are 3-year averages of data. Data for 1993 use Census 1990 based population controls.
In March of 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau discovered that in a small percentage of cases, some residents of a household were erroneously considered to have no health insurance. Revised public-use data were released by the Census Bureau for the 1997 through 2007 CPS files. Health insurance coverage estimates posted on the Kids Count data website reflect those revisions. The Census Bureau has not released revised CPS data files for 1996 and prior. Therefore health insurance coverage estimates on the Kids Count website for years labeled 1996 and prior have not been updated. Because 1996 and prior are likely to have some degree of under-reporting of health insurance coverage it is not advisable to compare estimates labeled 1996 and prior to estimates labeled 1997 or beyond. You can read a more in-depth description of the data revisions by the Census Bureau at the following site (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/usernote/schedule.html).
Note: The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are
not included in maps and rankings because they are not states and therefore comparisons on many
indicators of child well being are not meaningful.