On September 10, 2019, the Census Bureau released income and poverty estimates in the annual report Income and Poverty in the United States: 2018 and health insurance coverage estimates in the annual report Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2018 where, for the first time, income, poverty, and health insurance measures reflects important changes to the processing system for the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). These reports present year-to-year comparisons from 2017 to 2018 based on data edited using an updated processing system for both years. In some cases, 2017 estimates may diverge from values published in September 2018 which were created using the legacy processing system.

In 2014, the CPS ASEC included redesigned questions for income and health insurance coverage, followed by changes in 2015 to allow spouses and unmarried partners to specifically identify as opposite or same-sex. While data from the updated collection methods were released on schedule, data processing changes to take advantage of this new content are now complete. Processing changes and implications will be discussed in this webinar.