Health equity proponents are reacting to new research from the U.S. Census Bureau that found that linking Medicaid data with decennial census and American Community Survey (ACS) data has the potential to recognize and tackle health inequalities based on race and ethnicity, while helping to solve for the substantial void in traditional census data preventing better health equity assessments.
The lack of data on race and ethnicity in Medicaid enrollment records is a significant challenge for studying and addressing health disparities. According to the study, there was a lack of race/ethnicity information for approximately 19% of Medicaid recipients, and this varied significantly by state.
By linking Medicaid data with census and ACS data, the extent of missing race/ethnicity information in Medicaid records could be reduced from 19% to 7%, or nearly 63%. However, even with the data linkage, some beneficiaries still had missing race/ethnicity information. The research also found that neglecting to consider the absence of data in Medicaid records could result in skewed evaluations of racial/ethnic imbalances in health outcomes such as mortality, particularly in certain states.
The research used data from the Enhancing Health Data (EHealth) Program, which aims to expand the utility of Census Bureau data by linking them with new sources of health-related information.
The findings highlight the importance of high-quality data in addressing health equity and understanding health disparities in the U.S. and globally. The research provides valuable insights for researchers and policymakers seeking to study and mitigate racial and ethnic health disparities, social determinants of health, and population health using Medicaid and census data.
