The 2008–09 Colorado Household Survey (COHS) was initiated to collect information about the health insurance status of Coloradans. Funded by The Colorado Trust, COHS was an effort to more accurately assess the issues surrounding health insurance coverage in Colorado and to provide baseline information about health care coverage and access in anticipation of state and national health reform efforts. The 2008-09 survey was sponsored by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. The Colorado Trust is continuing the survey every other year beginning in 2011 through at least 2017, and has renamed it the Colorado Health Access Survey.
The 2008–09 COHS was a telephone survey of 10,000 randomly selected households in Colorado. Within each household, one member was randomly chosen as the target and a series of questions regarding health insurance coverage, health status, access to health care, health care utilization, out of pocket health care expenditures, employment and income was asked about that individual. In addition, a subset of questions about individual demographic characteristics (such as age) and health insurance coverage was asked about all members of the household. The COHS sample includes 400 randomly selected cell–phone only households and 9,600 randomly selected households contacted through a traditional landline telephone.
The survey was administered from November 2008 to March 2009 by the Colorado Health Institute (CHI), which is maintaining the public use and research files on behalf of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. CHI has also been asked to provide dissemination support to individuals and organizations interested in downloading the public use file or who have questions about using and analyzing data from the COHS.
The public use file (PUF) is available free of charge to the public. In order to protect the confidentiality of the COHS respondents, geographic identifiers contained in the PUF have been rolled up to generate state level and rural-urban estimates only. Persons interested in more in–depth research using the COHS data or needing sub–state estimates from the COHS can submit a data request or apply for access to the COHS research file.
To request the research or the public use file for the 2008-09 COHS, please visit the website for the Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS). COHS is the baseline survey of CHAS, which is a program of The Colorado Trust. On the CHAS website, visitors can request the research files and public use files for both the 2008-09 survey and the 2011 survey and view the questionnaires and methodology for both surveys. Also available are comparisons and summary reports, as well as more information about The Colorado Trust’s commitment to continuing the survey through at least 2017. Data collection and analyses for the Colorado Health Access Survey are managed by the Colorado Health Institute.
Return to 2008-09 COHS Project Page
Access the 2008–09 Colorado Household Survey Data
2008–09 Colorado Household Survey Questionnaire
2008–09 Colorado Household Survey Design and Methods
For general information about the COHS, contact Rene Horton, Business Analysis Section Manager, Colorado Health Care Policy and Financing.
E-mail: Rene.Horton@state.co.us
Phone: (303) 866.2567
FAX: (303) 866.2828