In November 2008, the 2008–09 Colorado Household Survey (COHS) was initiated to collect information about the health insurance status of Coloradans. The COHS was sponsored by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing and funded by The Colorado Trust in 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 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 to CHI or apply for access to the COHS research file.
For technical questions about the COHS or to submit a data request for analysis of the COHS data, contact Anna Furniss, CHI.
E-mail: furnissa@coloradohealthinstitute.org
Phone: (303) 831.4200 x204
FAX: (303) 831.4247
For general information about the COHS, contact Lindy Wallace, Deputy Director, Colorado Health Care Policy and Financing.
E-mail: Lindy.Wallace@state.co.gov
Phone: (303) 866.5066
FAX: (303) 866.2828
Access the 2008–09 Colorado Household Survey Data
2008–09 Colorado Household Survey Questionnaire
2008–09 Colorado Household Survey Design and Methods