Validating Insurance Information on the California Birth Certificate: A Tool for Monitoring Financial Access to Maternity Care, 1994-1995

The goal of this study was to assess the validity of the insurance information given on birth certificates in California. Mothers of recently-delivered babies were queried at the hospital on the source of their prenatal care insurance coverage and on their delivery insurance coverage. Delivery insurance information was also gathered from the respondent's hospital chart. These data were matched to insurance coverage information from the state's birth certificate database, linked to each respondent. This information covers principal source of payment for prenatal care and expected principal source of payment for delivery. Demographic information supplied in this collection includes the mother's education, age, race, whether this was the mother's first baby, whether the mother was foreign-born, and the month prenatal care began.