The purpose of this study is to explore data related to health insurance of residents of Alabama. Specifically, we are interested in
Many healthcare providers limit the number of Medicare patients that they accept, and (even more so) the number of Medicaid patients, and (yet more so) the number of uninsured. So these three groups may be considered at risk
in terms of access to healthcare. The data are given by county and are also aggregated by the rural-urban classification defined by the Alabama Rural Health Association and the Black Belt classification defined by the Alabama Department of Public Health.
Of particular importance for healthcare is the urban-rural classification scheme developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This scheme is based on Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs), and so applies to counties, but is enhanced and adapted specifically for health statistics. It has four urban levels and two rural levels (ordered from most urban to most rural):
The first five are associated with CBSAs. The last level, Noncore is not associated with a CBSA, hence the name. So a Noncore county could be considered completely rural.
In Alabama, the term blackbelt refers to counties in the central part of the state that traditionally have been poor, rural, and marginalized (and hence vulnerable in terms of healthcare services). There is no universally accepted definition for the blackbelt counties of Alabama, but for purposes of healthcare, the following list is appropriate, and is the one used in this project:
Our data are displayed in the form of interactive maps and interactive tables. The maps generally have point or area layers that can be added or removed with the layer control on the map. The user can zoom in and out of a map and move about in the usual way. Zooming in reveals additional features such as small towns and then streets and roads. A click on the home button returns the map to its origional location and scale. The zoom -to-area button allows the user to zoom to a selected rectangular area of the map. Clicking on an object in a layer shows summary data for that object.
The interactive tables can be sorted by any field, by clicking on the header for that field. The buttons at the top allow the table data to be copied to the clipboard, in tab-separated text format, printed, or downloaded in various formats (tab-separated text, Excel, or PDF). With the search bar, the table can be filtered according to a text string.
In the interactive tables that display area data (counties amd drive bands) you can click on a row to select an area and see the area highlighted in the map. You can select as many areas as you wish. Click on a selected area again to de-select and remove the highlight.
The information and data presented in this project are provided as a service to the educational and healthcare communities. Although care was taken in gathering the data at the time of posting, no warranties are expressed or implied as to the correctness or usefulness of the material. Moreover, the project should be viewed as a snapshot in time. Inevitably, the further from the time of posting the less accurate the data will be. In addition,
at-riskdesignation.