This brief focuses on the availability of public use data from selected federal surveys that collect information on health insurance coverage and access to care for race, ethnicity and immigrant group (REI) identifiers.  Publicly available data for populations defined by REI are necessary for monitoring disparities in healthcare coverage and access.

In SHADAC’s companion issue brief #16, "Measurement of Race, Ethnicity, and Immigrant Groups in Federal Surveys,"  we reviewed the way that selected federal surveys collect information on race, ethnicity, and immigrant groups and found a relatively comprehensive collection of measures. Although detailed information on race and ethnicity are collected in most surveys, the data available in public-use files are much more restricted. July 2009.