NCHStats

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) releases quarterly reports on selected health estimates from the National Health Interview Survey that include health insurance coverage across the nation. It also includes topics such as smoking, obesity, and HIV. Today, NCHS released the most recent data, that from January through September 2008. The data showed no change in health insurance coverage from 2007 for those under age 65. The links for the selected health estimates and health insurance reports are below.

Click here for the link to the selected estimates from NHIS, January through September 2008.

Click here for the link to the report on health insurance coverage from January through September 2008.

A new study released today by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reveals that Oklahoma is leading the nation’s wireless-only movement, with more than one in four households (26.2%) in that state using only wireless phones in 2007. On the other end of the spectrum, only 5.1% of households in Vermont were wireless-only in 2007.

The new report, “Wireless Substitution: State-level Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January-December 2007,” is the latest release on wireless substitution from NCHS, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report shows the percentage of adults who use only wireless phones is also highest in Oklahoma (25.1%) and lowest in Delaware (4.0%).

NCHS tracks wireless-only phone use to assess potential implications for data collection from health surveys and other research conducted using random-digit-dialing methods on landline phones.

For more click here.

Consumer-directed health care enables individuals to have more control over when and how they access care, what types of care they use, and how much they spend on health care services. National attention to consumer-directed health care increased following the enactment of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which established tax-advantaged health savings accounts.

A new report released by NCHS today features estimates of those using consumer-directed health care in 2007–estimates are provided for enrollment in high deductible health plans (HDHPs), plans with high deductibles coupled with health savings accounts also known as consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), and the percentage of individuals with private coverage whose family has a flexible spending account (FSA) for medical expenses, by selected sociodemographic characteristics.

To learn more, access the report at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db15.htm.