October 19, 2006

Majority of North Dakota Children Have Health Insurance

The vast majority of North Dakota children ages 0 to 17 are covered by some form of health insurance. Current estimates indicate that the three-year average of uninsured children in North Dakota for 2003-05 was 8.7 percent (approximately 12,000 children).

This month’s “Economic Briefs,” a monthly publication from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University, focuses on children ages 0 to 17 without health insurance in North Dakota. The Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), a joint project by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, provides annual estimates of the number of people with and without health insurance by selected characteristics.

The CPS ASEC is designed to collect statistically reliable estimates, primarily at the national level. Because state estimates are less reliable (due to the relatively small sample sizes that can cause state estimates to fluctuate widely from year to year), the Census Bureau recommends using three-year averages to compare estimates across states and two-year averages to evaluate changes in state estimates. Though health insurance coverage is likely to be underreported in the CPS and confidence intervals around the estimates can be relatively large for states such as North Dakota, CPS statistics are one way of estimating the number of children at risk.

Three-year averages from the 2003-05 CPS ASEC indicate that while the majority of North Dakota children have health insurance coverage, 8.7 percent have no form of health insurance.

“A concerted effort in North Dakota, through programs such as Covering Kids, is attempting to further reduce that number,” says Richard Rathge, State Data Center director. “Some states, such as Minnesota, are attempting to fully cover kids, which is a goal we should consider.”

Nationally, 11.1 percent of children were without health insurance coverage.

Comparing all states, using the three-year average uninsured rates for 2003-05, shows Texas had the highest proportion of uninsured children in the nation (20.1 percent). Vermont had the lowest (4.7 percent). When examining the two-year averages from 2003 through 2004 and 2004 thorough 2005, only Massachusetts had a statistically significant change in the proportion of uninsured children, dropping 1.7 percent to 5.3 percent.

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Source: Richard Rathge, (701) 231-8621, richard.rathge@ndsu.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu

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