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NORC at the University Chicago

2023 Colorado Health Access Survey

Older man filling out medical paperwork while sitting in waiting room at doctor's office
Measuring Coloradoan’s insurance coverage and access to and use of health care
  • Client
    Colorado Health Institute (CHI)
  • Dates
    December 2022 – December 2023

Problem

Colorado decision-makers need high-quality data to improve health insurance coverage and access to care. 

Colorado’s policymakers, state agencies, local governments, and community-based organizations need high-quality data to improve Coloradoans’ overall health, health coverage, and access to care. To meet this need, the Colorado Health Institute (CHI) has conducted the biennial Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) since 2009. The survey also tracks the effects of policy changes, public health emergencies, and examining social determinants of health.  

Solution

NORC took over CHAS in 2021 and made several enhancements to improve the quality and utility of the data.

NORC became CHI’s survey partner for the CHAS for the 2023 data collection. The approach we designed for the CHAS provides representation of a variety of subgroups to allow the CHIS to monitor trends and identify challenges facing Coloradoans. As part of our work, we:

  • Supported the development and translation of the survey instrument and recruitment materials
  • Programmed the survey for multimode (phone and web) administration
  • Developed and implemented a complex sampling design to oversample young adults, low-income, racial/ethnic minorities, rural populations, households with children, and the uninsured 
  • Collected over 9,900 interviews in English and Spanish
  • Designed complex survey weights

Result

Findings helped illustrate the impact of the COVID pandemic and its aftermath on insurance rates and other factors.

Data collected by NORC helped CHI to understand the disparities and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care access and usage in Colorado. 

  • Approximately 5 percent of Coloradoans (~265,00 people) did not have health insurance in 2023. This is a decline from 6.5 percent to 4.6 percent.
  • The increase in health insurance was a result of individuals covered by Medicaid and the pause in disenrollment during COVID-19. However, with the end to the public health emergency, individuals are losing Medicaid coverage, so this gain may be reversed. 
  • Even with the increase in coverage, there are still disparities in who has coverage. Hispanic and Latinos were three times as likely not to have coverage compared to white and Black or African American Coloradoans. 
  • The most common reason for not having health insurance was cost. Eighty-seven percent of Coloradoans who are uninsured stated such. This is compared to 25 percent who don’t know how to get insurance.  

Project Leads

Data & Findings

“It’s gratifying knowing how widely used the high-quality data we collected is to state and local agencies to improve the health and health care of its constituents.”

Barbara Fernandez

Project Director & Associate Director

“It’s gratifying knowing how widely used the high-quality data we collected is to state and local agencies to improve the health and health care of its constituents.”

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