Survey Of Non-Group Health Insurance Enrollees Early Release Methodology

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Survey of Non-Group Health Insurance Enrollees is the third in a series of surveys examining the views and experiences of people who purchase their own health insurance. The survey was designed and analyzed by researchers at KFF. SSRS collaborated with KFF researchers on sample design and weighting, and supervised the fieldwork. KFF paid for all costs associated with the survey.

The survey was conducted by telephone from February 9 through March 26, 2016 among a random sample of 786 adult U.S. residents who purchase their own insurance. The findings presented in this chart are based on a subset of the full survey sample that obtained coverage from a state or federal Health Insurance Marketplace (N=512). Computer-assisted telephone interviews conducted by landline and cell phone were carried out in English and Spanish by SSRS. Respondents were considered eligible for the survey if they met the following criteria:
• Between the ages of 18-64
• Currently covered by health insurance that they purchase themselves or purchased insurance that would begin in the next month
• Not covered by health insurance through an employer, COBRA, Medicare, Medicaid, a parent’s plan, or the U.S. military or VA
• If a small business owner, the health insurance they purchase is only for themselves and/or their family, and does not cover non-related employees of their business

Because the study targeted a low-incidence population, the sample was designed to increase efficiency in reaching this group, and consisted of three parts: (1) respondents reached through random digit dialing (RDD) landline and cell phone (N=142); (2) respondents reached by re-contacting those who indicated in a previous RDD survey that they either purchased their own insurance or were uninsured (N=234); (3) respondents reached as part of the SSRS Omnibus survey (N=410), a weekly, nationally representative RDD landline and cell phone survey. All RDD landline and cell phone samples were generated by Marketing Systems Group.

A multi-stage weighting process was applied to correct for the sample design, and to ensure an accurate representation of the national population of non-group enrollees ages 18-64 by age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, region, population density, marital status, and phone use.

All statistical tests of significance account for the effect of weighting. The margin of sampling error (MOSE) including the design effect is plus or minus 5 percentage points for results based on those with Marketplace plans. For other subgroups the margin of sampling error may be higher.