Table 2.
Comparison of Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) to the New American Community Survey (ACS)
| Survey Features | CPS | ACS |
|---|---|---|
| Health insurance items | ||
| Reference period for health insurance coverage | Any coverage during the last calendar year | Coverage at the point in time of the interview |
| Uninsured measure | All year uninsured | Point in time |
| Specific state names for SCHIP and Medicaid | Yes | No |
| Specific state program names | Yes | No |
| Health insurance verification question | Yes | No |
| Number of survey items devoted to health insurance coverage | 8 | 1 |
| Information collected for everyone in a household | Yes | Yes |
| Other key content | ||
| Demographics (e.g., age, sex, marital) | Yes | Yes |
| Income (including poverty level) | Yes | Yes |
| Public program participation (e.g., TANF/SSI) | Yes | Yes |
| Employment | Yes | Yes |
| Activities of daily living | No | Yes |
| Self-reported health status | Yes | No |
| Survey methods | ||
| Annual sample size (number of households sampled) | 100,000 | 3,000,000 |
| Number of people included in the public use microdata sample in 2006 | 208,562 | 2,969,741 |
| Population studied | Noninstitutionalized | U.S. population (including institutionalized) |
| Data collected | February–April | All year |
| Mode of data collection | Phone and face to face | Mail, phone, and face to face |
| Response rate | 84% | 96% |
| Uninsured estimates | ||
| 2006 Uninsured estimate | 15.8 | 13.9* |
| 2006 Uninsured estimate in millions | 44.8 | 40.7 |
*
Taken from 2006 ACS content test (for additional comparison the National Health Interview Surveys 2006 point-in-time estimate is 14.8% [43.3 million]).