Medicaid/SCHIP as Primary Source of Health Insurance During the Year

Medicaid/SCHIP as Primary Source of Health Insurance During the Year

Order Code RL32555
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Medicaid/SCHIP as Primary Source of Health
Insurance During the Year
August 31, 2004
Chris L. Peterson
Analyst in Social Legislation
Domestic Social Policy Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

Medicaid/SCHIP as Primary Source of Health
Insurance During the Year
Summary
Although most Americans receive health insurance through an employer, 40.8
million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid or the State Children’s Health
Insurance Program (SCHIP) at some point in 2001, representing 14% of the U.S.
population. However, not all of these individuals relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their
primary source of health insurance.
Medicaid/SCHIP enrollees are heterogeneous, particularly in terms of the
duration of their enrollment and the extent to which they rely on Medicaid/SCHIP as
their sole source of coverage. This heterogeneity is best understood by analyzing
Medicaid/SCHIP enrollees in a given year as three distinct groups rather than a single
group:
! enrollees who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of
health insurance for the entire year (18.8 million);
! enrollees who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of
health insurance for only part of the year (12.3 million); and
! enrollees who were enrolled in Medicaid but who never relied on it
as their sole source of health insurance during the year; that is, when
they had Medicaid, they had other coverage as well (9.7 million).
Among enrollees who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of health
insurance for the entire year, more than two-thirds (69%) were children (under age
19) and none were aged, since virtually all the aged had Medicare. On the other
hand, among the Medicaid enrollees who never relied on it as their sole source of
insurance, less than a quarter (23%) were children but nearly half (46%) were aged.
Enrollees who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of health
insurance for only part of the year were uninsured for two-thirds of the months they
spent without solely Medicaid/SCHIP; job-based health insurance coverage
comprised nearly all of the remaining months. Of these enrollees with part-year
reliance on solely Medicaid/SCHIP, 1.8 million experienced a loss of job-based
coverage during the year. Looking at the characteristics of the policyholders linked
to these individuals (usually a parent or spouse), one finds substantial disruption in
their employment and insurance status. For example, 61% of individuals were linked
to policyholders who experienced a drop in their wages or had some period during
the year in which they did not work.
Those Medicaid enrollees who never relied on it as their sole source of health
insurance always had some form of health insurance in addition to Medicaid. Two-
thirds (67%) of these individuals were enrolled in Medicare all year. The remainder
were mostly covered by job-based coverage.
The estimates in this report are based on monthly Medicaid/SCHIP enrollment
reported in the 2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). This report will be
updated to reflect new data or to expand on the analysis.

Contents
Medicaid/SCHIP As A Source of Health Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Enrollees with Part-Year Reliance on Medicaid/SCHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Loss of Job-Based Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Data Sources and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Methodology and Variable Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
List of Figures
Figure 1. Primary Source of Health Insurance, Among Those
Ever Enrolled in Medicaid/SCHIP, By Months of Primary Coverage
in Medicaid/SCHIP, 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Figure 2. Characteristics of Medicaid/SCHIP Enrollees in 2001, by Portion
of Year Enrolled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 3. Source of Health Insurance Prior to Medicaid/SCHIP Enrollment,
Among Those Who Gained and Ever Relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as Sole
Source of Health Insurance in 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 4. Changes in Policyholder’s Work Status and Wages, Among
Individuals Who Ever Relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as Sole Source
of Health Insurance and Who Lost Job-Based Coverage in 2001 . . . . . . . . . 7
List of Tables
Table 1. Selected Characteristics of U.S. Noninstitutionalized Population
and Medicaid/SCHIP Enrollees, with 90% Confidence Intervals, 2001 . . . 10
Table 2. Selected Characteristics of Those Who Relied on Medicaid/SCHIP
as Their Sole Source of Health Insurance for Part of the Year and Who
Lost Job-Based Coverage in 2001, with 90% Confidence Intervals . . . . . . 11

Medicaid/SCHIP As Primary Source of
Health Insurance During the Year
Medicaid is a joint federal/state entitlement program that makes payments for
the health care and long-term care of low-income children and families, disabled
individuals, and the aged (those 65 and older). The State Children’s Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP), created through the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33),
is also a joint federal/state program and generally provides health insurance to
uninsured children in families with income just above the state’s Medicaid eligibility
levels. Under SCHIP, states can cover children either under their existing Medicaid
programs or create separate programs modeled after private insurance. This report
examines the characteristics of individuals enrolled in Medicaid or SCHIP at some
point in 2001, the most recent year in which month-by-month data are available on
health insurance enrollment.
The source of data used for this report is the 2001 Medical Expenditure Panel
Survey (MEPS), which contains estimates of monthly Medicaid/SCHIP enrollment
along with other important information on the noninstitutionalized U.S. population.
For this report, all of the estimates refer to the noninstitutionalized U.S. population.
Like most nationally representative general population surveys, MEPS does not
include the institutionalized (for example, those in nursing homes). Because the
findings in this report are based on survey data, they are subject to sampling error and
other limitations, which are discussed in greater detail in the “Data Sources and
Limitations” section.1
Medicaid/SCHIP As A Source of Health Insurance
Although most Americans receive health insurance through an employer, 40.8
million individuals were enrolled in Medicaid/SCHIP at some point in 2001,
representing 14% of the U.S. noninstitutionalized population. However, not all of
these individuals relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their primary source of health
insurance or had Medicaid/SCHIP for the entire year.
Figure 1 illustrates the extent to which enrollees relied on Medicaid/SCHIP
throughout the year as their sole source of health insurance. The first group of
particular interest consists of those who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole
source of health insurance for the entire year. As illustrated in the bottom section of
the figure, these 18.8 million individuals account for less than half of those enrolled
in Medicaid/SCHIP in 2001.
1 Because MEPS is the source of data for this report, the estimates may differ from those
using other sources of data, including administrative enrollment data and other surveys, such
as the Current Population Survey (CPS).

CRS-2
The second group is the 12.3 million individuals who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP
as their sole source of health insurance for only part of the year. This group is
illustrated in the middle of Figure 1. On average, two-thirds of months in which
these individuals were not covered solely by Medicaid/SCHIP were spent uninsured;
job-based health insurance comprised nearly all of the remaining months.
The third and final group is the 9.7 million individuals who were enrolled in
Medicaid but who never relied on it as their sole source of health insurance. These
enrollees always had some form of health insurance in addition to Medicaid. As
shown in upper section of the figure, two-thirds (67%) of these individuals were
enrolled in Medicare all year.2 The remainder were mostly covered by job-based
coverage.
Current law does not prohibit Medicaid enrollees from having other forms of
health insurance; whether a person has health insurance is not a factor in determining
one’s eligibility for Medicaid. However, according to current law, individuals are not
eligible for SCHIP if they have any other source of health insurance.
The “dual eligible” individuals (those covered by both Medicare and Medicaid)
qualified for Medicare when they turned age 65 or because of a disability. These
individuals also qualified for Medicaid because of their low income or high
healthcare spending relative to their income. For dual eligibles, Medicare is the
primary payer of their acute healthcare costs; Medicaid covers much of these
individuals’ cost-sharing under Medicare as well as benefits not currently covered by
Medicare, such as prescription drugs.
The three groups of Medicaid/SCHIP enrollees discussed above differ from each
other in ways besides their sources and duration of health insurance coverage. The
groups are compared in Figure 2 based on commonly used characteristics — age,
race/ethnicity, income-to-poverty ratio.
2 When people have multiple sources of health insurance at the same time, analysts often
create a hierarchy to label one of those sources “primary.” For this report, Medicare was
at the top of the hierarchy. In other words, Medicare was considered the primary coverage
for Medicare enrollees, regardless of what other coverage they may have had. From there,
the hierarchy proceeds as follows: job-based; all other private coverage (e.g., nongroup) and
military or veterans coverage; and Medicaid. Medicaid is the last among the sources of
coverage because it is the “insurer of last resort”; Medicaid pays for services only after all
other health insurance sources have paid. If a person had none of these sources of coverage,
they were considered uninsured.

CRS-3
Figure 1. Primary Source of Health Insurance, Among Those
Ever Enrolled in Medicaid/SCHIP, by Months of Primary Coverage
in Medicaid/SCHIP, 2001
Othera
40
Medicaid enrollees
Job-based
who never relied
on just Medicaid,
always had other
coverage
Medicare
(9.7 million)
All non-Medicaid/
s)
30
n
SCHIP coverageb
io
ill
Uninsured
m
es (
Medicaid/SCHIP
lle
was sole source of
ro
n
coverage for part
E
Medicaid/SCHIP
of the year
IP
(12.3 million)
H
C
20
/S
id
ca
edi
f M
o
er
b
m
Nu
10
Medicaid/SCHIP
Medicaid/SCHIP
was sole source of
coverage for
entire yearc
(18.8 million)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Average months enrolled in primary source of health insurance
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the Household Component of the 2001
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
Note: Horizontal slivers showing three or more types of coverage represent the primary coverage (in
person-months) for those who did not comprise a large enough group to otherwise be visible in this
figure.
When people have multiple sources of health insurance at the same time, analysts often create a
hierarchy to label one of those sources “primary.” For this report, Medicare was at the top of the
hierarchy. In other words, Medicare was considered the primary coverage for Medicare enrollees,
regardless of what other coverage they may have had. From there, the hierarchy proceeds as follows:
job-based; all other private coverage (e.g., nongroup) and military or veterans coverage; and Medicaid.
If a person had none of these sources of coverage in a month, they were considered uninsured.
a. Nongroup coverage, group coverage not related to a person’s employment, and military or veterans
coverage.
b. Usually job-based coverage, but also includes Medicare, nongroup coverage, group coverage not
related to a person’s employment, and military or veterans coverage.
c. Includes 1 million infants born in 2001 who were covered solely by Medicaid/SCHIP from birth.

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Figure 2. Characteristics of Medicaid/SCHIP Enrollees in 2001, by Portion of Year Enrolled
Age
Race/Ethnicity
Income-to-Poverty Ratio
100%
100%
100%
Other, 6%
Other, 5%
Other, 6%
200%+
200%+
17%
Hispanic
23%
Hispanic
Hispanic
200%+
14%
80%
Adults<65
Aged
80%
25%
26%
80%
39%
31%
Adults<65
46%
Black
100%-199%
42%
23%
32%
Black
60%
60%
60%
Black
100%-199%
19%
29%
38%
100%-199%
40%
40%
40%
34%
Children
Adults<65
69%
Children
31%
58%
White
White
White
20%
20%
57%
20%
<100%
<100%
40%
51%
Children
52%
39%
<100%
23%
27%
0%
0%
0%
Entire year
Part of year
Never
Entire year
Part of year
Never
Entire year
Part of year
Never
Portion of year with Medicaid/SCHIP
Portion of year with Medicaid/SCHIP
Portion of year with Medicaid/SCHIP
as sole source of coverage
as sole source of coverage
as sole source of coverage
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the Household Component of the 2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
Note: These figures are based on the estimated 40.8 million noninstitutionalized individuals ever enrolled in Medicaid/SCHIP in 2001. An estimated 18.8 million individuals relied
on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of health insurance for the entire year. Medicaid/SCHIP was the sole source of coverage for part of the year for 12.3 million individuals.
Another 9.7 million were enrolled in Medicaid during the year but never relied on it as their sole source of coverage. Totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding. Hispanics may
be of any race. In the race/ethnicity chart, whites and blacks are those who are non-Hispanic. Among non-Hispanics, individuals who report any other race (e.g., Asian, American
Indian) are categorized as “other.”

CRS-5
Among the enrollees who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of
health insurance for the entire year, more than two-thirds (69%) were children (under
age 19) and none were aged, since virtually all the aged had Medicare. On the other
hand, among the Medicaid enrollees who never relied on it as their sole source of
health insurance, less than a quarter (23%) were children but nearly half (46%) were
aged.
Figure 2 also shows differences by race. For example, among the enrollees who
relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of health insurance for the entire year,
40% were non-Hispanic white. However, this racial/ethnic group made up 57% of
Medicaid enrollees who never relied on it as their sole source of health insurance.
More than half (52%) of those who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole
source of health insurance for the entire year had income below the poverty level, as
shown in Figure 2. On the other hand, 27% of Medicaid enrollees who never relied
on it as their sole source of health insurance were poor. In fact, 39% of Medicaid
enrollees who never relied on it as their sole source of health insurance had incomes
at least twice the poverty level, compared to 17% of those who relied on
Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of health insurance for the entire year.3 Many
of these are elderly individuals with recurring medical expenses that deplete their
income to levels that allow them to qualify for Medicaid.
Figure 3. Source of Health Insurance Prior to Medicaid/SCHIP
Enrollment, Among Those Who Gained and Ever Relied on
Medicaid/SCHIP as Sole Source of Health Insurance in 2001
Uninsured
Job-based
85%
14%
Other
1%
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the Household Component of the 2001
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
Note: These figures are based on the estimated 8.0 million noninstitutionalized individuals who gained
Medicaid/SCHIP in 2001 and ever relied on that coverage as their sole source of coverage in 2001.
3 The 2001 poverty threshold for a single nonaged adult was $9,214 and increases with
family size. For a single aged adult, the poverty threshold was $8,494.

CRS-6
Enrollees with Part-Year Reliance on Medicaid/SCHIP
In 2001, 12.3 million individuals relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source
of coverage but for less than the entire year, as previously mentioned.4 This section
focuses on this population, of which more than three-quarters (77%) were uninsured
at some point in 2001.
Of those with part-year reliance on Medicaid/SCHIP, 8 million gained
Medicaid/SCHIP in 2001. Of those, 85% (6.8 million) were uninsured just before
obtaining that coverage, as shown in Figure 3. Nearly all of the remainder (1.1
million) were covered by job-based coverage before obtaining Medicaid/SCHIP.
Of the 5.1 million individuals who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP but then lost that
coverage, 87% (4.5 million) became uninsured immediately afterward. Eleven
percent (less than 600,000) had job-based health insurance in the month following
their final month in Medicaid/SCHIP.
Loss of Job-Based Coverage. Since 2000, the percentage of people with
job-based health insurance has steadily fallen while the percentage with public
coverage has risen. The decreases in job-based coverage since 2000 could have
occurred for a number of reasons, including the following:
! Economic conditions. The softening economy could have led to
falling rates of job-based coverage as well as the loss of jobs that
provided health insurance. Many of those who lost job-based
coverage may have enrolled in Medicaid or SCHIP rather than
becoming uninsured.
! Increases in premiums. In 2001, job-based health insurance
premiums increased by 10.9% while workers’ earnings and overall
inflation increased by less than half that amount.5 The cost of health
insurance may have compelled many workers to forgo their
employers’ coverage. Some of these people may have been able to
obtain Medicaid/SCHIP for themselves or their dependents.
! Availability of Medicaid/SCHIP. Awareness of Medicaid/SCHIP
eligibility could have led some employers or workers to drop their
job-based coverage and caused increased enrollment in publicly
available programs.
In general terms, some call the substitution of public coverage for private
insurance “crowd-out.” However, experts on crowd-out define the term more
4 Even though these individuals relied on Medicaid/SCHIP for only part of calendar year
2001, that enrollment could have marked the beginning of a full year or even multiple years
of enrollment. Likewise, these individuals could have lost their Medicaid/SCHIP coverage
after years of coverage but be considered to have relied on Medicaid/SCHIP for part of the
year simply because of the months included in this analysis.
5 “Employer Health Benefits: 2003 Annual Survey,” The Kaiser Family Foundation and
Health Research and Educational Trust, 2003, p. 2, at [http://www.kff.org/insurance/
ehbs2003-1-set.cfm].

CRS-7
narrowly: the percentage of enrollees who obtain coverage from a public program
expansion but would have been covered by some other form of health insurance in
the absence of the expansion.
Using the narrower definition, measuring crowd-out is not straightforward. It
requires determining the portion of enrollment growth attributable to the program
expansion and how that growth would differ in the hypothetical world in which the
expansion did not take place. The results depend on the data used and the
assumptions made, which causes the estimates to vary wildly.6 Thus, the analysis
that follows is not called a crowd-out analysis.
Approximately 1.8 million individuals who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as their
sole source of coverage at some point during 2001 lost their job-based health
insurance during the year. Looking at the characteristics of the policyholders through
whom individuals had coverage, one finds substantial disruption in their employment
and insurance status.
Nearly half of these Medicaid/SCHIP enrollees (47%, 860,000) were linked to
policyholders who had some period during the year in which they did not work, as
shown in Figure 4. An additional 14% (260,000) were linked to policyholders who
never went without work but experienced a drop in their wages, either by having a
wage reduction in their current job or by taking a different job with a lower wage.
Only 39% (720,000) were linked to policyholders who worked for the entire year and
did not experience a wage drop.
Figure 4. Changes in Policyholder’s Work Status and Wages, Among
Individuals Who Ever Relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as Sole Source of
Health Insurance and Who Lost Job-Based Coverage in 2001
No wage drop; always worked
39%
Wage dropped but always worked
14%
Went without work
47%
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the Household Component of the 2001
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
Note: These figures are based on the estimated 1.8 million individuals who ever relied on
Medicaid/SCHIP as their sole source of coverage in 2001 and who lost job-based coverage in 2001.
6 The issue of crowd-out is not explored here. Secondary literature exists that discusses
crowd-out and the complicated issues around it, such as how to measure it and the wide
range of estimates produced by different researchers. For example, see “Public program
crowd-out of private coverage: What are the issues?” by Gestur Davidson et al., Research
Synthesis Report No. 5, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, June 2004, at
[http://www.rwjf.org/publications/synthesis/reports_and_briefs/pdf/no5_researchreport.pdf].

CRS-8
Data Sources and Limitations
The source of data for this report is the Household Component of the 2001
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), which contains estimates of monthly
Medicaid/SCHIP enrollment along with other important information on the
noninstitutionalized U.S. population. MEPS is administered by the federal Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Most surveys are cross-sectional, meaning that they obtain information from a
set of respondents a single time. Cross-sectional surveys may occur regularly, but not
for the purpose of obtaining follow-up information from the same individuals.
However, MEPS is a longitudinal survey, meaning that it obtains information from
the same respondents over a period of time in order to observe changes in certain
characteristics. MEPS interviews the same individuals every three to five months for
two years. Because of its longitudinal design and the detailed health insurance
questions it asks, MEPS is particularly useful for examining changes in individuals’
health insurance status.7
Methodology and Variable Definition. It is not possible to use MEPS to
obtain estimates of SCHIP enrollment separately from Medicaid enrollment. The
MEPS questionnaire obtains information about individuals’ Medicaid and SCHIP
enrollment in the same question. However, even when using surveys that have
separate variables for Medicaid and SCHIP, analysts usually combine the results
because of respondents’ tendency to confuse the two types of coverage.
In addition, the survey asks whether anyone in the household has coverage
“through any state or local agency which provided hospital and physician benefits.”
Similar questions appear in other health insurance surveys as well, and analysts
typically subsume them under Medicaid/SCHIP. Experts at AHRQ recommended
this approach for MEPS.
In order to accurately estimate the prevalence of changes among
Medicaid/SCHIP enrollees, 12 full months of data were needed, except for newborns.
However, nearly 2% of individuals did not have 12 months of information. They
were excluded, and the weights of the remaining individuals were increased
proportionally to make up the difference.
The enrollees who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP for part of 2001 and who lost job-
based coverage during 2001 were linked to the person most likely to have been the
policyholder of that coverage.8 The first attempt to link individuals to their
7 For additional information, see CRS Report RL31275, Health Insurance: Federal Data
Source for Analyses of the Uninsured, by Chris L. Peterson and Christine Devere.
8 These 1.8 million individuals consist of those who had employment-based health insurance
in Jan. 2001 or afterward and had lost that coverage by Dec. 2001. This estimate does not
include those who had job-based coverage in Dec. 2000 and lost that coverage by Jan. 2001,
in part because only a third of the respondents in the survey in Jan. 2001 were in the survey
in Dec. 2000. However, an analysis of those individuals found that the percentage of
(continued...)

CRS-9
policyholder was with the MEPS variable that groups individuals into Health
Insurance Eligibility Units (HIEUs). HIEUs are sub-family relationship units
constructed to include adults plus those family members who would typically be
eligible for coverage under the adults’ private health insurance family plans. Of the
248 individuals in this sample, all but 24 matched using the HIEU. Those 24 were
linked instead to the sole policyholder in the family or household.
Limitations. Statistics from surveys such as the MEPS are subject to sampling
and non-sampling error. Since survey estimates come from only a sample of the
population, the estimates could differ from the results of a complete census using the
same questions. All other sources of error in survey estimates are collectively called
nonsampling error. Sources of nonsampling error include the following:
! differences in individual respondents’ interpretation of questions;
! respondents’ inability to recall information; and
! errors made in data collection, such as recording and coding data.
Although it is not possible to measure the extent of nonsampling error, it is
possible to calculate the sampling error, based on measurements like the survey’s
sample size. This allows analysts to calculate a confidence interval around each
estimate.
For example, based on responses for 32,122 individuals in the 2001 MEPS, the
percentage of individuals uninsured at any time during the year is estimated at 22.7%.
This single value is called the point estimate. The 90% confidence interval for this
estimate ranges from 21.8% to 23.5%. In other words, if all possible samples were
surveyed under essentially the same general conditions and the same sample design,
approximately 90% of those samples would have an estimate between 21.8% and
23.5%. In this case, each of these numbers varies by less than 4% (approximately
0.85 percentage points) from the point estimate.
As sample size decreases, the magnitude of the sampling error increases;
performing the same analysis on a smaller group increases the size of the confidence
interval. For example, consider the individuals who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP as
their sole source of coverage for part of 2001 and also lost job-based health insurance
during the year (an estimated total of 1.8 million people versus the national total of
284.2 million people). Of these individuals, 23.3% were estimated to have been
uninsured at some point during the year, based on responses for 248 individuals. The
confidence interval for this estimate ranges from 19.7% to 27.0%. These numbers
vary from the point estimate by nearly 16% (approximately 3.65 percentage points),
rather than the 4% above, demonstrating that smaller sample sizes yield wider
confidence intervals. Additional examples of confidence intervals from this report
are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.
8 (...continued)
individuals who lost coverage at the end of the year was the average monthly amount for all
of 2001. In other words, it appears that those who relied on Medicaid/SCHIP for part of
2001 were no more likely to have lost job-based coverage at the end of the year 2000 than
for any given month in 2001.

CRS-10
Table 1. Selected Characteristics of U.S. Noninstitutionalized Population and Medicaid/SCHIP
Enrollees, with 90% Confidence Intervals, 2001
Among enrollees, Medicaid/SCHIP was sole source
of coverage for:
Enrolled in
Part of the year
Population (est. Medicaid/SCHIP Entire year (est.
(est. 12.3
Never (est. 9.7
284.2 million) (est. 40.8 million)
18.8 million)
million)
million)
Ever uninsured during year
22.7%
23.9%
0.0%
76.8%
2.9%
Uninsured entire year
11.7%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
0.0%
Enrolled in Medicaid/SCHIP
14.4%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
Age
Children
27.1%
54.5%
68.7%
57.5%
23.1%
Non-aged adults
60.3%
34.5%
31.3%
42.0%
31.1%
Aged
12.6%
11.0%
0.0%
0.0%
45.9%
Race
White
69.7%
47.3%
39.9%
50.6%
57.3%
Black
12.3%
24.6%
29.4%
18.8%
22.7%
Hispanic
13.3%
22.3%
24.6%
25.7%
13.6%
Other
4.7%
5.8%
6.2%
4.9%
6.4%
Income-to
Less than 100%
11.9%
42.2%
51.6%
39.4%
27.4%
Poverty Ratio
100% to 199%
18.5%
34.2%
31.8%
37.8%
34.2%
200% and above
69.7%
23.7%
16.7%
22.7%
38.5%
90% Confidence intervals
Ever uninsured during year
21.8%-23.5%
22.3%-25.5%
NA
74.0%-79.7%
1.8%-4.0%
Uninsured entire year
11.1%-12.2%
NA
NA
NA
NA
Enrolled in Medicaid/SCHIP
13.6%-15.2%
NA
NA
NA
NA
Age
Children
26.5%-27.7%
53.1%-55.9%
67.0%-70.3%
55.0%-60.1%
20.0%-26.2%
Non-aged adults
59.7%-60.9%
33.2%-35.8%
29.7%-33%
39.4%-44.6%
28.6%-33.6%
Aged
12.1%-13.1%
10.0%-12.1%
NA
NA
42.3%-49.4%
Race
White
68.4%-71.0%
44.6%-49.9%
36.4%-43.3%
47.2%-54.0%
53.9%-60.7%
Black
11.5%-13.1%
22.2%-27.0%
25.4%-33.3%
16.0%-21.7%
19.8%-25.7%
Hispanic
12.3%-14.2%
20.2%-24.5%
21.7%-27.6%
23.2%-28.3%
11.4%-15.8%
Other
4.1%-5.3%
4.3%-7.3%
3.9%-8.4%
3.3%-6.4%
4.5%-8.3%
Income-to
Less than 100%
11.2%-12.5%
40.2%-44.1%
48.8%-54.3%
36.2%-42.7%
24.4%-30.3%
Poverty Ratio
100% to 199%
17.7%-19.3%
32.4%-36.0%
29.2%-34.3%
34.7%-41.0%
30.9%-37.5%
200% and above
68.5%-70.9%
22.0%-25.3%
14.7%-18.6%
20.1%-25.4%
35.4%-41.6%
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the 2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).

CRS-11
Table 2. Selected Characteristics of Those Who Relied on
Medicaid/SCHIP as Their Sole Source of Health Insurance for
Part of the Year and Who Lost Job-Based Coverage in 2001,
with 90% Confidence Intervals
90% confidence
Point estimate
interval
Ever uninsured during year
23.3%
19.7%-27.0%
Changes in policyholder’s job employment
Policyholder went without work during year
46.7%
40.7%-52.6%
Policyholder experience wage drop but
14.3%
9.8%-18.7%
always worked
Policyholder always worked; no wage drop
39.1%
33.5%-44.6%
Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of the 2001 Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
Note: The percentages are out of an estimated total of 1.8 million individuals.