How to get exact definition of ESRI variables for enrichment

[JayLarsen]

How can I get the exact definition of one of ESRI's variables I have used for enrichment.

I have used the variable The variable "MP18050a_B 2020 Carry medical or hospital or accident insurance" for a project.

The variable says it returns the number of people in the selected area that have health insurance.

But I need to know the exact definition of the variable.  It is about health insurance, but does it mean only commercial health insurance, or does it also mean the resultant number is for Medicare and Medicaid also?

[MarkGilbert]

@JayLarsen I am not the expert but here is a resources for you to review.

Esri Demographics Market Potential 

I believe these are market potential values about the products and services consumers WANT and not necessarily a census of insurance owners.

@Anonymous User  can you provide more clarification?

[JayLarsen]

Yes, true.  Thanks for the reply! It is a "market potential" literally, but I need to know if it excludes in the survey those that have Medicare or Medicaid from the denominator, so to speak.

[Anonymous User]

Hi,
The methodologies are here:
https://doc.arcgis.com/en/esri-demographics/reference/methodologies.htm

https://downloads.esri.com/esri_content_doc/dbl/us/J9672_Market_Potential_DB_Methodology_Statement_2...

Not sure if it includes exactly what you are looking for, but may help.

[JayLarsen]

Thank for the reply. It's not the MATH part that I need the exact definitions on, it is the content.  E.g. for this "health insurance" metric, does that mean the projected # of people in the selected geography includes ALL types of "medical insurance", inclusive of medicare and medicaid? Or is it just all commercial insurance?

It's kind of like if there was a generic-sounding "owns a car" variable, but you couldn't determine if it that included pickups and SUVs or something.

I have heard back from a support item that it is ALL insurance--but it doesn't look like it. But, that's the response. It's somewhat similar to some ACS data, but yields totally different results.

Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Different part of documentation - try searching through the XSL files on this page:
https://doc.arcgis.com/en/esri-demographics/data/us-intro.htm

[JayLarsen]

Thanks, good tip. That Excel file is way better organized than all the various web pages on ESRI.  Sadly, it still gets down to the same information, which doesn't tell me for sure what is counted and what isn't.

Cheers!