MEPS HC-047: 1998 Person Round Plan Public Use File
March 2003
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Center for Cost and Financing Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Data Use Agreement
B. Background
1.0 Household Component
2.0 Medical Provider Component
3.0 Insurance Component
4.0 Survey Management
C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
2.0 Data File Description
2.1 Complex File Structure with Examples
2.2 Identifiers
2.3 Adding the Characteristics of Covered Persons
2.4 Adding the Policyholder' s Characteristics
2.5 Choosing PRPL Records for Your Research Question
3.0 Data File Contents
3.1 ID Variables
3.2 Person Variables
3.3 Policyholder Variables
3.4 Establishment Variables
3.4.1 Employers and Other Establishments
3.4.2 Types of Coverage through the Establishment
3.4.3 Out-of-Pocket Premiums
3.5 Plan Variables
3.5.1 Household Reports of Managed Care
3.5.2 Family Satisfaction with Plan
3.5.3 Change in Plan Name
3.6 Links to Job Providing Insurance
References
D. Variable Source Crosswalk
A. Data Use Agreement
Individual identifiers have been removed from the
micro-data contained in the files that are part of this Public Use Release.
Nevertheless, under sections 308 (d) and 903 (c) of the Public Health Service
Act (42 U.S.C. 242m and 42 U.S.C. 299 a-1), data collected by the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and /or the National Center for Health
Statistics (NCHS) may not be used for any purpose other than for the purpose for
which they were supplied; any effort to determine the identity of any reported
cases, is prohibited by law.
Therefore in accordance with the above referenced Federal
Statute, it is understood that:
No one is to use the data in this data set in any way
except for statistical reporting and analysis; and
If the identity of any person or establishment should be
discovered inadvertently, then (a) no use will be made of this knowledge, (b)
The Director Office of Management AHRQ will be advised of this incident, (c) the
information that would identify any individual or establishment will be
safeguarded or destroyed, as requested by AHRQ, and (d) no one else will be
informed of the discovered identity.
No one will attempt to link this data set with
individually identifiable records from any data sets other than the Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey or the National Health Interview Survey.
By using this data you signify your agreement to comply
with the above stated statutorily based requirements with the knowledge that
deliberately making a false statement in any matter within the jurisdiction of
any department or agency of the Federal Government violates Title 18 Part 1
Chapter 47 Section 1001 and is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or up to 5
years in prison.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality requests
that users cite AHRQ and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey as the data source
in any publications or research based upon these data.
Return To Table Of Contents
B.Background
This documentation describes one in a series of public use
files from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The survey provides a
new and extensive data set on the use of health services and health care in the
United States.
MEPS is conducted to provide nationally representative
estimates of health care use, expenditures, sources of payment, and insurance
coverage for the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population. MEPS is
cosponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (formerly
the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR)) and the National Center
for Health Statistics (NCHS).
MEPS comprises three component surveys: the Household
Component (HC), the Medical Provider Component (MPC), and the Insurance
Component (IC). The HC is the core survey, and it forms the basis for the MPC
sample and part of the IC sample. Together these surveys yield comprehensive
data that provide national estimates of the level and distribution of health
care use and expenditures, support health services research, and can be used to
assess health care policy implications.
MEPS is the third in a series of national probability
surveys conducted by AHRQ on the financing and use of medical care in the United
States. The National Medical Care Expenditure Survey (NMCES, also known as
NMES-1) was conducted in 1977, the National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES-2)
in 1987. Beginning in 1996, MEPS continues this series with design enhancements
and efficiencies that provide a more current data resource to capture the
changing dynamics of the health care delivery and insurance system.
The design efficiencies incorporated into MEPS are in
accordance with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Survey
Integration Plan of June 1995, which focused on consolidating DHHS surveys,
achieving cost efficiencies, reducing respondent burden, and enhancing
analytical capacities. To accommodate these goals, new MEPS design features
include linkage with the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), from which the
sampled households for the MEPS HC are drawn, and continuous longitudinal data
collection for core survey components. The MEPS HC augments NHIS by selecting a
sample of NHIS respondents, collecting additional data on their health care
expenditures, and linking these data with additional information collected from
the respondents’ medical providers, employers, and insurance providers.
Return To Table Of Contents
1.0 Household Component
The MEPS HC, a nationally representative survey of the
U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, collects medical expenditure
data at both the person and household levels. The HC collects detailed data on
demographic characteristics, health conditions, health status, use of medical
care services, charges and payments, access to care, satisfaction with care,
health insurance coverage, income, and employment.
The HC uses an overlapping panel design in which data are
collected through a preliminary contact followed by a series of five rounds of
interviews over a 2½ - year period. Using computer-assisted personal
interviewing (CAPI) technology, data on medical expenditures and use for two
calendar years are collected from each household. This series of data collection
rounds is launched each year on a new sample of households to provide
overlapping panels of survey data and, when combined with other ongoing panels,
will provide continuous and current estimates of health care expenditures.
The sample of households selected for the MEPS HC is drawn
from among respondents to the NHIS, conducted by NCHS. The NHIS provides a
nationally representative sample of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized
population, with oversampling of Hispanics and blacks.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.0 Medical Provider Component
The MEPS MPC supplements and/or replaces information on
medical care events reported in the MEPS HC by contacting medical providers and
pharmacies identified by household respondents. The MPC sample includes all home
health agencies and pharmacies reported by HC respondents. Office-based
physicians, hospitals, and hospital physicians are also included in the MPC but
may be subsampled at various rates, depending on burden and resources, in
certain years.
Data are collected on medical and financial
characteristics of medical and pharmacy events reported by HC respondents. The
MPC is conducted through telephone interviews and record abstraction.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.0 Insurance Component
The MEPS IC collects data on health insurance plans
obtained through employers, unions, and other sources of private health
insurance. Data obtained in the IC include the number and types of private
insurance plans offered, benefits associated with these plans, premiums,
contributions by employers and employees, eligibility requirements, and employer
characteristics.
Establishments participating in the MEPS IC are selected
through four sampling frames:
- A list of employers or other insurance providers
identified by MEPS HC respondents who report having private health insurance
at the Round 1 interview.
- A Bureau of the Census list frame of private sector
business establishments.
- The Census of Governments from Bureau of the Census.
- An Internal Revenue Service list of the self-employed.
To provide an integrated picture of health insurance, data
collected from the first sampling frame (employers and insurance providers) are
linked back to data provided by the MEPS HC respondents. Data from the other
three sampling frames are collected to provide annual national and State
estimates of the supply of private health insurance available to American
workers and to evaluate policy issues pertaining to health insurance.
The MEPS IC is an annual panel survey. Data are collected
from the selected organizations through a prescreening telephone interview, a
mailed questionnaire, and a telephone followup for nonrespondents.
Return To Table Of Contents
4.0 Survey Management
MEPS data are collected under the authority of the Public
Health Service Act. They are edited and published in accordance with the
confidentiality provisions of this act and the Privacy Act. NCHS provides
consultation and technical assistance.
As soon as data collection and editing are completed, the
MEPS survey data are released to the public in staged releases of summary
reports and microdata files. Summary reports are released as printed documents
and/or electronic files on the MEPS web site (www.meps.ahrq.gov). All microdata
files are available for download from the MEPS web site in compressed formats
(zip and self-extracting executable files.) Selected data files are available on
CD-ROM from the MEPS Clearinghouse.
For printed documents and CD-ROMs that are available
through the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse, write or call:
AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse
Attn: (publication number)
P.O. Box 8547
Silver Spring, MD 20907
800/358-9295
410/381-3150 (callers outside the United States only)
888/586-6340 (toll-free TDD service; hearing impaired only)
Be sure to specify the AHRQ number of the document or
CD-ROM you are requesting.
Additional information on MEPS is available from the MEPS
web site (www.meps.ahrq.gov)
Return To Table Of Contents
C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
This public use data file contains data for each person
with private health insurance reported in rounds 3, 4, and 5 of Panel 2 and
rounds 1, 2, and 3 of Panel 3 (i.e., the rounds for the survey panels covering
calendar year 1998) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component
(MEPS HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS format statements and in SAS
transport format, this public use file provides information collected on a
nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population
of the United States during the calendar year 1998. The HC-047 file contains
records for persons insured through establishments providing hospital/physician,
medigap, dental, vision, prescription medication, or long-term care coverage and
includes variables pertaining to managed care and satisfaction with plan
coverage.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.0 Data File Description
The Person-Round-Plan (PRPL) file for 1998
is a complex file of privately insured persons and their private health
insurance plans and links to the jobs providing insurance. The PRPL file is
designed to facilitate research on the sometimes complex and dynamic
relationships between consumers and their private insurance. It is not a
person-level file, and linking the PRPL file to a person-level file (such as
HC-009 and HC-028) requires users making analytic decisions based on
understanding the complexity of the PRPL file.
Records contain the following types of information (Figure 1):
- Covered person
- Flags for whether the person is the policyholder or a
dependent
- Whether enrolled at time of interview
- Months enrolled during the reference period for the interview
- Interview Round
- Policyholder
- Establishment providing insurance
- Type of establishment (employer, union, insurance
agent, etc.)
- Types of coverage (hospital/physician, medigap,
dental, vision, prescription medication, long-term care, COBRA, single or
family)1
- Out-of-pocket premium (only for Panel 3 round 1 and
only when either the plan is not through a current employer or union, or
the plan is from a previous employer)
- Plan (for hospital/physician and Medicare supplemental
insurance coverage only)
- Household reports of managed care
- Family satisfaction with plan (collected for rounds 2 and 4)
- Links to the job providing insurance (for employment-based insurance
only, HC-025)
On the records for dependents, variables
link to the policyholder's job providing insurance, rather than the
dependent's job.
"Establishment" refers to
the organization through which the policyholder obtains private insurance. The
establishment may be an employer, a union, an insurance agent, an insurance
company, a professional association, or another type of organization. Many
questions in the MEPS HC instrument are asked in reference to the establishment
providing insurance to the policyholder. For example, the MEPS HC asks about the
"types of health insurance" or covered services, such as
hospital/physician and dental coverage, the policyholder gets through the
establishment.
For each establishment, a "plan" is "the
insurance company or Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)" or self-insured
company "from which (POLICYHOLDER) receives" hospital/physician
or Medicare supplemental (Medigap) coverage. For some focused analyses, it may
be important to recognize that information collected at the establishment level
does not necessarily pertain to the plan level. For example, if a policyholder
obtains from the establishment two separate plans, a hospital/physician plan and
a dental plan, then the dental plan may not have the same managed care
characteristics as the hospital/physician plan.
1 No effort has
been made to validate variables representing type of coverage with external
sources.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.1 Complex File Structure with Examples
The PRPL file is designed to reflect the
sometimes complex and dynamic relationships between people and their private
insurance. It allows maximum flexibility for researchers, but it also requires
that they make analytical decisions in their research.
The PRPL file is a
person-round-policyholder-establishment-level file. There is one unique record
for each unique combination of establishment (source of private insurance),
policyholder, interview round, and covered person (policyholder or dependent).
Thus, the PRPL file contains at least one record for each person in each round
with private health insurance, or 48,038 total records. The PRPL file contains
records for persons insured through establishments providing hospital/physician,
medigap, dental, vision, prescription medication, or long-term care coverage.
In most cases in this file, one person in
the family has insurance from his or her employer, and this insurance covers
everyone in the family. In this case, there is one record for each family member
in each round, and each record flags the policyholder's current main job and
links to the one job record in HC-025. However, other cases are more complex,
and some hypothetical examples follow.
Multiple Establishments
- Juan and Maria are both employed parents, both have
health insurance through their employers, and both parents choose family
coverage. In this case, there are two PRPL records for each family member in
each round.
- John and Jane are both employed parents. John has
single coverage from his employer. Jane has family coverage from her
employer. In this case, Jane and the children each have one PRPL record for
each round. John has two records for each round.
- Jamie has Medicare and Medicare supplemental insurance.
In this case, Jamie has one PRPL record in each round for the Medicare
supplemental insurance. There is no record for Medicare, because it is
public insurance.
- Arlene is a child living with her mother. Both have
Medicaid. Arlene's father, who does not live with them, has private
insurance that covers Arlene. Arlene has one PRPL record in each round for
the private insurance. There is no record for Medicaid, because it is public
insurance.
No Private Insurance
- Paul is uninsured. In this case, Paul does not have any
PRPL records.
- Mary has Medicaid instead of private coverage. In this
case, Mary does not have any PRPL records.
Sources of Insurance: Employers and Other
Establishments
- Dexter is an employed parent with family coverage
through his current main job. In this case, each family member's PRPL record
flags Dexter's current main job as the source of insurance, and each family
member's PRPL record links to that job record in Public Use File (PUF)
HC-025.
- Claire is employed, but she does not have insurance
through her job. Instead she buys a plan directly from an HMO. In this case,
Claire's PRPL records do not flag her current main job, nor do they link to
any job records in PUF HC-025.
- Fred has hospital/physician insurance through his
employer, and he buys long-term care insurance through an insurance agent.
In this case, Fred has two PRPL records, and only the employment-based
insurance flags his current main job and links to a job record in PUF
HC-025.
Policyholders Not in the Household
- Edith is a widow and has retiree insurance from her
former husband's former job. In this case, Edith's PRPL record does not link
to any employment information in the MEPS. There is also a PRPL record for
Edith's former husband, where he is flagged as the policyholder and flagged
as deceased, but this record does not link to any records on any PUFs.
- Matilda' s parents are divorced. She lives with her
father, but her insurance is through her mother's job. In this case,
Matilda's PRPL record does not link to any employment information in the
MEPS. There is also a PRPL record for Matilda's mother, where she is flagged
as the policyholder and not residing in the Respondent Unit (RU), but this
PRPL record does not link to any records on any PUFs.
Changes in Insurance
- Bob changes jobs between January 1st, 1998
and the date of his MEPS interview, and both jobs provided health insurance.
In this case, Bob has two PRPL records for the round. EVALCOVR shows whether
one or both plans covered Bob on the interview date.
- Julie quits her job in round 1 (Panel 3) but pays her
previous employer to continue her health insurance while she looks for
another job in round 2. In this case, Jane's round 1 PRPL record flags her
current main job as the source of his insurance and links to a job record in
PUF HC-025. Julie's round 2 PRPL record does not flag her current main job
as the source of her insurance, but it links to the same job record from
round 1. Thus, the jobs variables from round 1 are no longer current in
round 2, but the link exists for users.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.2 Identifiers
Each record contains the following ID
variables:
DUPERSID is the person identifier (either
a dependent or a policyholder).
RN is the round of the interview in which
the enrollment data were collected
PHLDRIDX is the person identifier of the
policyholder
ESTBIDX is an ID number for the
establishment-employer, union, insurance company or other- that is the source of
insurance coverage on the record.
EPRSIDX is a combination of ESTBIDX and
the PHLDRIDX, and it uniquely identifies the insurance coverage that a
policyholder obtains from an individual establishment.
EPCPIDX is a combination of DUPERSID, RN,
and EPRSIDX, and it uniquely identifies each record.
JOBSIDX is a combination of the PHLDRIDX a
round identifier (RN) and a job number (JOBSN), and it uniquely identifies the
policyholder's job at the establishment that provided insurance (for
employment-based coverage)
For each person covered by a
policyholder-establishment combination, the PHLDRIDX, ESTBIDX, and EPRSIDX
appear on each plan record for that coverage.
A person (DUPERSID) can be listed more
than once on this file (1) if they are covered (as a policyholder or a
dependent) by insurance policies from more than one establishment, or (2) if
they are covered in more than one round. Establishment-policyholder pairs (EPRSIDXs)
can be listed more than once (1) if the health plan a policyholder obtains from
a given establishment also covers his/her dependents, or (2) if the health plan
a policyholder obtains from a given establishment provides coverage in more than
one interview round. As noted above, there is a PRPL record for each unique
combination of establishment (source of insurance), round, and covered person
(policyholder or dependent). The following table presents a hypothetical example
that illustrates the relationship between the ID variables on this file.
ESTBIDX |
DUPERSID |
PHLDRIDX |
EPRSIDX |
RN |
EPCPIDX |
JOBSIDX |
11 |
42 |
42 |
1142 |
1 |
1142142 |
42101 |
11 |
42 |
42 |
1142 |
2 |
1142242 |
42201 |
11 |
42 |
42 |
1142 |
3 |
1142342 |
42301 |
22 |
53 |
53 |
2253 |
1 |
2253153 |
53101 |
33 |
53 |
53 |
3353 |
1 |
3353153 |
-1 |
44 |
61 |
61 |
4461 |
1 |
4461161 |
61101 |
44 |
62 |
61 |
4461 |
1 |
4461162 |
61101 |
44 |
63 |
61 |
4461 |
1 |
4461163 |
61101 |
55 |
71 |
71 |
5571 |
1 |
5571171 |
71102 |
55 |
71 |
71 |
5571 |
2 |
5571271 |
71102 |
The first three rows of the table
represent a situation where a person (DUPERSID=42) is listed thrice in the PRPL
file because she obtains insurance from the same establishment in all three
rounds. Since the person is the policyholder, her DUPERSIDX is the same as the
PHLDRIDX, which is repeated in the EPRSIDX, EPCPIDX, and JOBSIDX.
The fourth and fifth rows of the table
represent a situation where a person (DUPERSID=53) is listed twice in the PRPL
file because she obtains insurance from more than one establishment. In this
example, the second establishment is not an employer or union, so JOBSIDX is
inapplicable (-1).
The sixth, seventh, and eighth rows of the
table represent a situation where a policyholder and two dependents obtain
coverage through the policyholder's employer (a unique
establishment-policyholder pair, EPRSIDX=4461). The policyholder's PHLDRIDX
appears in the EPRSIDX and the JOBSIDX for all three covered persons.
The last two rows of the table represent a
situation where a person is retired and has retiree insurance through a job that
ended prior to 1998. In Panel 3, round 1, the respondent reported the job from
which the sample member retired, and MEPS does not ask about that job again.
However, in each round we ask about the health insurance. So in round 2 the
JOBSIDX contains round number 1, when the jobs data were last collected.
Finally, note that EPCPIDX uniquely
identifies each record on the file.
In order to conduct person-level analyses,
it is necessary to identify all policies that cover each individual either as a
policyholder or as a dependent. Since each person in the PRPL file is
uniquely identified by the variable DUPERSID, person-level analyses can be
conducted by examining all PRPL records containing each DUPERSID.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.3 Adding the
Characteristics of Covered Persons
The DUPERSID allows you to link to the
age, sex, race, health status, or other person-level variables from the other HC
files. However, this will result in multiple records per person, and estimates
will not be nationally representative unless you use one PRPL record per person
or summarize PRPL records to the person level (and use weights).
Return To Table Of Contents
2.4 Adding the Policyholder's Characteristics
The PHLDRIDX allows you to link characteristics of the
policyholder onto the records of every person covered by the plan. For example,
suppose you wanted to study persons whose private employment-based insurance is
through an employee working full time at a current main job as of the first
interview of 1998 (Panel 3 round 1 or Panel 2 round 3). Then you would select
PRPL records matching HC-009 (PUF9FLG=1) where the insurance is through a
current main job (CMJINS=1) and [(PANEL98=2 and RN=1) or (PANEL98=1 and RN=3)].
From HC-009, select the DUPERSID and HOUR13 variables and rename DUPERSID to
PHLDRIDX. Merge HOUR13 onto the PRPL file by PHLDRIDX.
Some policyholders do not have records on HC-009 or HC-028. These include
deceased policyholders and policyholders residing outside the RU. For these
policyholders, PUF9FLG and PUF28FLG may be equal to 2, depending on when the
policyholder left the RU. All of the covered person records for these
establishment-policyholder pairs are flagged with DECPHLDR, OUTPHLDR, or NOPUFLG
equal to 1. Deceased policyholders complicate the estimation of nationally
representative statistics on active policies. For these
establishment-policyholder pairs, users must choose a covered person with a
positive weight. However, establishment-policyholder pairs where the
policyholder resides outside the RU should not be included in estimates, because
this will result in double counting, as RU members covering those outside the RU
are already included.
Return To Table Of Contents
2.5 Choosing PRPL Records for Your Research Question
In order to produce estimates from the data in this file,
researchers must use the person (or family) level weights released in either of
two previously released PUFs, HC-009 or HC-028. Researchers must consult the
documentation for these PUFs for guidance on creating nationally representative
estimates for different time periods.
Note that if there are multiple records per person
(DUPERSID) when you merge on weights, you will double count some people, and your
estimates will not be nationally representative. There are two solutions: select only one
record per person, or aggregate information across PRPL records.
How you develop your
analytical file depends on your research question. The PRPL file is designed to help
answer a wide variety of research questions. AHRQ cannot anticipate all these questions,
so this section provides examples of how to use the PRPL file for four research questions.
How many people were covered by two or more private
hospital/physician insurance plans at the end of 1998?
Select the end of year records {Panel 3 and [(round 3 and
R2FLAG = -1) or (round 2 and R2FLAG = 1)] and Panel 2 round 5} with PRIVCAT>0
and MSUPINS ne 1 and EVALCOVR=1. Count the number of records for each person (DUPERSID).
Create one person-level record for each DUPERSID that has the number of plans (PRPL
records). Merge the count variable onto PUF HC-028 and use weights, strata, and
PSUs to create nationally representative estimates.
How many people reported private dental coverage from an
employer at the end of 1998?
Select the end of year records {Panel 3 and [(round 3 and
R2FLAG = -1) or (round 2 and R2FLAG = 1)] and Panel 2 round 5} with DNTLINS=1
and PRIVCAT in (1,4,5) and EVALCOVR=1. Among these records, select one record
for each person (DUPERSID). Merge each record onto PUF HC-028 and use weights,
strata, and PSUs to create nationally representative estimates.
At the time of the first interview, how many private
insurance policies for hospital/physician were not employment-based?
Select the Panel 3 round 1 and Panel 2 round 3 records with
PRIVCAT in (2, 3, 99) and EVALCOVR=1. Select one record for each
policyholder-establishment pair (EPRSIDX). To have a positive weight for the
final count, we recommend choosing the covered person record of the policyholder
(PHOLDER=1), unless the policyholder is deceased (DECPHLDR=1), in which case
then the researcher should choose a different covered person=
s record. Merge each record onto PUF HC-009 and use weights, strata, and PSUs to
create nationally representative estimates.
How many people who had private health insurance for
hospitals/physicians in January 1997 also had health insurance in December 1998
from the same source?
From the 1998 Person Round Plan file (HC-047), select all the panel
2 round 1 records with PRIVCAT>0 and MSUPINS ≠ 1 and STATUS1=1. Select the
DUPERSID and EPRSIDX variables. Then select all the round 5 records with
STATUS24=1, and select the EPRSIDX and DUPERSID variables. A successful match
between the round 1 and round 5 records is coverage from the same source in both
times. A person might, however, have coverage from more than one source in both
January and December, so to avoid double counting persons, eliminate any
duplicate DUPERSIDs before merging the round 1 and round 5 records. Merge the
matches onto PUF HC-035 and use longitudinal weights, strata, and PSUs to create
nationally representative estimates.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.0 Data File Contents
3.1 ID Variables
In the MEPS Household Component, the definitions of Dwelling
Units (DUs) and Group Quarters are generally consistent with the definitions
employed for the National Health Interview Survey. The dwelling unit ID (DUID)
is a five-digit random ID number assigned after the case was sampled for MEPS.
The person number (PID) uniquely identifies all persons within the dwelling
unit. The variable DUPERSID is the combination of the variables DUID and PID.
The MEPS - HC - PRPL file can be linked to other person-level public use files
such as MEPS HC-009: Combined Panel 2, Round 3/Panel 3, Round 1 1998 Population
Characteristics by using the DUPERSID.
PHLDRIDX is the person identifier (DUID + PID) of
the policyholder of the private health insurance plan. Generally, the
characteristics of the policyholder can be linked from other person-level public
use files by using the PHLDRIDX to match the DUPERSID on the other files.
However, when the policyholder is deceased or resides outside the RU, then there
are no person-level variables on public use files (unless the policyholder was
alive and resided in the household at some point during the time periods covered
by the interviews).
ESTIBIDX is an ID number assigned to place of employment and
to sources of insurance.
EPRSIDX is a combination of ESTBIDX and PHLDRIDX. In a few cases, more than
one EPRSIDX may identify a policyholder-source of coverage pair, because when an
RU splits, for example, through divorce or because a child goes to college, each
new RU separately reports insurance information, and hence MEPS cannot determine
with certainty whether members in both RUs have the same policy. Although both
RUs may report coverage through the same policyholder, the RUs will have
different EPRSIDXs and ESTBIDXs. (The RU letter is embedded in the ESTBIDX and
EPRSIDX.) For each RU (EPRSIDX), there is a PRPL record for the policyholder as
a covered person, but for only one of the EPRSIDX’s (the one in which the
policyholder resides) is the policyholder coded as having coverage in the STATUS
or EVALCOVR variables.
JOBSIDX is a combination of the PHLDRIDX, a round identifier (RN), and a job
number (JOBSN), and it uniquely identifies the policyholder=
s job at the establishment that provided insurance (for employment-based
coverage). The round identifier imbedded in JOBSIDX is the round in which the
job was last reported, which is not necessarily the round in which the insurance
was last reported (for example, when the job ended but the insurance continued).
JOBSIDX can be used to link on characteristics of the policyholder=
s job providing insurance from the Jobs public use file (HC-025).
Return To Table Of Contents
3.2 Person Variables
There are five person-level variables. Binary variables
indicate whether the person is the policy holder (PHOLDER) or a dependent (DEPNDNT)
on the coverage through the establishment. The variable PUF9FLG indicates
whether the person has a record on HC-009, and PUF28FLG indicates whether the
person has a record on HC-028.
R2FLAG indicates whether or not a person is a member of an RU in which the
Panel 3 Round 2 interview occurred in 1999. R2FLAG was assigned the value +1 for
persons in RUs where Round 2 of Panel 3 covered a portion of calendar year 1999.
Persons who are members of a Panel 3 RU that had its Round 2 interview in 1998
will have R2FLAG set to -1. Persons who are part of Panel 4 will also have
R2FLAG set to -1. Typically, only Round 3 of a MEPS panel covers two calendar
years, so the R2FLAG was developed to identify where data collection procedures
were modified. Analysts studying insurance characteristics at the end of the
year may need to modify their procedures to deal with this departure from the
usual data collection process. In the person-level file for 1998 (HC-028), MEPS
variables have been developed so that the process is transparent to the user.
There are 25 person-round-level variables. EVALCOVR is a
binary variable indicating whether the person was covered by insurance from the
establishment at the time of interview (rounds 4, and 5 of Panel 2 and rounds 1,
and 2 of Panel 3) or on December 31 (round 3 of Panel 3 and round 5 of Panel 2).
The variables STATUS1-STATUS24 indicate whether the respondent reported the
person was covered by insurance from the establishment for at least one day
during the month. For Panel 3, STATUS1-STATUS12 represent coverage from January
1998 through December 1998, and STATUS13-24 are inapplicable, because this
information is in year 1999. For Panel 2, STATUS13-STATUS24 represent coverage
from January 1998 through December 1998, and STATUS1-STATUS12 are inapplicable,
because this information is in the year 1997. Coverage is reported only for the
interview reference period. For example, if a person from Panel 3 was first
interviewed in February and reported she was covered in January and February,
and then in the second interview in August she reported she was covered from
March through August, then the PRPL record for the first round will have STATUS1
and STATUS2 set to 1 and the rest set to inapplicable, and the PRPL for the
second round will have STATUS3 through STATUS8 set to 1 and the rest set to
inapplicable.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.3 Policyholder Variables
The values of three variables describing
the policyholder do not vary across the records of the persons covered by the
plan, regardless of whether the covered person is the policyholder. The variable
DECPHLDR indicates the policyholder is deceased. The variable OUTHLDR indicates
the policyholder resides outside the RU. In each case, there are no person-level
records on a person-level PUF, even though the PRPL file has a record for the
policyholder as a covered-person (that is, a record where PHOLDER=1). The
variable NOPUFLG indicates there is another reason the policyholder does not
have a record on a person-level PUF. The purpose of these flags is to explain
any difficulty users may have linking policyholder information onto the PRPL
file. These variables do not, however, measure mortality or policyholders= leaving
household, which should instead be obtained from the PSTATUS variables
on the person-level files. (For example, policyholders who die between rounds 1
(Panel 3) or 3 (Panel 2) and the end of 1998 will have records on HC-009 and
HC-028, and PUF9FLG and PUF28FLG will be set to 1.)
Return To Table Of Contents
3.4 Establishment Variables
The values of establishment-level variables do not vary across the
records of the persons insured through the policyholder-establishment pair.
3.4.1 Employers and Other
Establishments
The type of establishment providing coverage (TYPEFLAG) is on the
record. For employment-based coverage through both an employer and a union (such as
insurance through a labor-management
committee), information about only one of the establishments, usually the
employer, is on the record. (These cases are identifiable through the PROVDINS
variable on the JOBS file.)
Return To Table Of Contents
3.4.2 Types of Coverage through the Establishment
The establishments in the PRPL file provide private health
insurance covering hospital/physician, Medicare supplemental insurance, dental,
vision, prescription medication, or long-term care insurance. The variable
PRIVCAT identifies the type of source for hospital and physician or Medicare
supplemental insurance. HOSPINSX and MSUPINSX are edited
establishment-policyholder flags for whether the policyholder has
physician/hospital and medigap coverage, respectively, through the
establishment. However, even when PRIVCAT indicates there is either
hospital/physician or medigap coverage, both HOSPINSX and MSUPINSX may have
missing values. Note also that both HOSPINSX and MSUPINSX may be coded "yes" on
the same record. DENTLINS, VISIONIN, PMEDINS, and LTCINS
flags indicate the establishment provides coverage for dental care, vision care,
prescription medications, and long-term care, respectively. Below are examples
of how to use these variables to identify types of insurance:
| Identifying Types of Insurance |
Variable and Values |
| Hospital and physician or Medicare supplemental insurance |
PRIVCAT in (1,2,3,4,5,99) |
| Medicare supplemental insurance |
MSUPINSX = 1 |
| Hospital and physician insurance |
PRIVCAT in (1,2,3,4,5,99) & MSUPINSX ne 1 |
| Dental insurance |
DNTLINS = 1 |
The variable COBRA is a flag for whether the respondent
reported the coverage was obtained through the requirements of the Consolidated
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1986. This act requires that
certain employers allow some former employees to continue their employment-based
coverage by paying the employer the premium (U.S. Department of Labor 1999).
This flag does not, however, indicate all the coverage through former employers,
which can be determined using TYPEFLAG and links to former jobs in the JOBS
file. COBRA is set to "yes" if any of the three following conditions
are met:
- The respondent said insurance from a previous job is the source
of coverage and the respondent answered yes to either HP14 or OE14 (depending
on when the job ended):
Some employer insurance can be continued after leaving
the company by continuing to pay the premium. This is sometimes referred to
as a COBRA plan.
Is (POLICYHOLDER)'s (ESTABLISHMENT) insurance like that?
Or
Did that health insurance continue through COBRA?
- The respondent said COBRA is the source of insurance through a
self-insured firm with firm-size one (HX03)
- The respondent said COBRA is the source of insurance not
elsewhere reported (HX23)
COBRA is set to "no" when the insurance was not COBRA
coverage. COBRA is set to inapplicable when the coverage was not
employment-based, and when the coverage was through a current job. COBRA is set
to "not ascertained" for retirement jobs first reported in the employment
section in round 1 (EM80), retirement jobs first reported in the employment
section for new RU members (EM80), and insurance through unions reported in the
insurance section (HX23)2. In a few cases, self-employed persons with firm size =
1 reported buying coverage through a previous job, and these cases are coded as
yes or no, while other insurance through self-employment with firm size = 1 is
coded "inapplicable."
The variable COVTYPIN flags whether coverage was single or family, based on
the number of persons covered in the RU, whether the establishment= s insurance
covers someone outside the household, and whether the policyholder is outside
the household. For Panel 3 rounds 1 and 2, and Panel 2 rounds 3 and 4, the
number of covered persons was measured at the time of the interview (or end of
the reference period). For Panel 3 round 2 (if R2FLAG=1) or 3 (if R2FLAG = -1)
and Panel 2 round 5 the number is as of December 31st.
2 In these three cases, the survey
was not designed to ascertain whether the coverage was COBRA or not, but the
variable is coded as "not ascertained" to help analysts.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.4.3 Out-of-Pocket Premiums
The variable OOPPREM is the edited monthly out-of-pocket
premium paid by the policyholder for coverage through the establishment for
Panel 3 as of round 1 (out-of-pocket premiums for Panel 2 round 1 appear on the
1997 PRPL file), when the establishment was not a current employer or union,
coverage was through a self-employed job with firm size 1, or COBRA coverage.
OOPELIG flags these covered-person-policyholder-establishment triples. OOPPREM
was created using the out-of-pocket amount reported and the frequency of
payments (HX61, HX62, and HX620V1):
For the coverage through (ESTABLISHMENT), does anyone in
the family pay all of the premium or cost, some of the premium or cost, or
none of the premium or cost?
[Do not include the cost of any co-payments, coinsurance or deductibles anyone in
the family may have had to pay.]
How much {(do/does)/did} (POLICYHOLDER) pay for the (ESTABLISHMENT) coverage?
PROBE: {Is/Was} that per year, per month, per week, or what?
OOPPREM is coded as zero for those who reported paying none
of their premium, which often happened with out-of-household coverage. OOPPREM
is coded "inapplicable" when the establishment was a current employer
or union, coverage was not through a self-employed job with firm size 1, and not
COBRA coverage. Premiums were reported only in round 1 for any given Panel, and
in all other rounds OOPPREM is coded "inapplicable.@
Because information about out-of-pocket premiums was collected only in Panel 3,
nationally representative estimates of premiums for this population in 1998
cannot be made using the weights (nor, of course, without the weights).
PREMLEVX shows whether OOPPREM was the full premium or part
of it. When the respondent reported they paid some or none of the premium, the
variables BYFED BYSTATE BYLOCAL BYSOMGOV BYEMPL BYUNION BYOTHER indicate who
paid the rest of the premium.
For all nine variables (PREMLEVX OOPPREM BYFED BYSTATE
BYLOCAL BYSOMGOV BYEMPL BYUNION BYOTHER), the same values are reported on the
records of each person covered through the establishment, but the policyholder
paid only once per establishment-policyholder.
Users should note that a few respondents reported zero, very
low, or very high premiums, and some respondents said they paid all or some of
their premium but reported an amount of zero. There was no attempt to resolve
these inconsistencies, because it is not clear what could be done.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.5 Plan Variables
The values of plan-level variables do not
vary across the records of the persons insured through the
policyholder-establishment pair. The PRPL file contains managed care and
satisfaction variables for hospital/physician and Medicare supplemental plans.
For all other plans, these variables are set to "inapplicable."
3.5.1 Household Reports of Managed Care
The variable UPRHMO identifies records for HMO coverage when
the household respondent reported that the insurance was purchased through an
HMO, reported the insurance company was an HMO, or described the plan as an HMO.
In all cases the respondent answered a question using the term A
HMO.@ UPRHMO is set to "yes"
if any of the three following conditions are met:
- If the respondent reported purchasing the insurance directly
through an HMO (HX03, HX23)
- If the respondent identified the type of insurance company as
an HMO (HX49, HX51, HX54)
- If the respondent answered yes to the following question
(MC01):
Now I will ask you a few questions about how (POLICYHOLDER)'s
health insurance through (ESTABLISHMENT) works for non-emergency care.
We are interested in knowing if (POLICYHOLDER)'s
(ESTABLISHMENT) plan is an HMO, that is, a Health Maintenance Organization. With an
HMO, you must generally receive care from HMO physicians. For other doctors, the
expense is not covered unless you were referred by the HMO or there was a medical
emergency. Is (POLICYHOLDER)'s (INSURER NAME) an HMO?
UPRHMO is set to "no" when the plan was not an HMO.
UPRHMO is set to "inapplicable" when the plan was not hospital/physician or
Medicare supplemental coverage.
The variable UPRMNC identifies records for gatekeeper
plans. The household respondent has not identified the plan as an HMO but has
identified a characteristic of the plan that requires plan members to sign up
with a gatekeeper for all routine care (the exact question is given below). In
1998, this gatekeeper feature was associated with HMO plans and with some
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans. Users of the data can decide how to
classify these persons. UPRMNC is set to "yes" if the following condition is
met:
If the respondent answered "no" to the HMO question (MC01)
and "yes" to the following question (MC02):
(Do/Does) (POLICYHOLDER)'s insurance plan require
(POLICYHOLDER) to sign up with a certain primary care doctor, group of doctors, or
a certain clinic which (POLICYHOLDER) must go to for all of (POLICYHOLDER)'s
routine care?
Probe: Do not include emergency care or care from a
specialist you were referred to.
UPRMNC is set to "no" when the plan does not
require a gatekeeper and when the plan is an HMO. UPRMNC is set to
"inapplicable" when the plan is not hospital/physician or Medicare
supplemental coverage.For plans other than HMOs and those with gatekeepers, the
variable DRLIST identifies records for plans that the household respondent said
had a book or list of doctors. The household respondent has not identified the
plan as a PPO but has identified a plan characteristic associated with PPO
plans. The respondent was asked MC03:
Is there a book or list of doctors associated with the plan?
If both the following conditions were met:
- If the person did not say the plan is an HMO (HX03, HX23, HX49,
HX51, HX54, MC01)
- If the respondent answered A no@ to the gatekeeper question
(MC02)
DRLIST is set to "inapplicable" when the plan is not
hospital/physician or Medicare supplemental coverage, when the plan is an HMO,
or when the plan requires a gatekeeper.With gatekeepers and lists of doctors, the
variable VISTPAYX identifies records for plans that the household respondent said paid
for out-of-network visits. The household respondent has not identified the plan as
an PPO or a Point of Service (POS) plan but has identified a plan characteristic
associated with PPO and POS plans. VISTPAYX has the responses to MC04:
Will (POLICYHOLDER)'s plan pay for any of the costs of visits to
doctors who are not associated with (POLICYHOLDER)'s plan, even if
(POLICYHOLDER) (do/does) not have a referral?
When both the following conditions are met:
- If the person did not say the plan is an HMO (HX03, HX23,
HX49, HX51, HX54, MC01)
If the respondent answered "yes" to the gatekeeper
question (MC02) or answered "yes" to the list of doctors question
(MC03)VISTPAYX is set to "inapplicable" when the plan is not
hospital/physician or Medicare supplemental coverage, when the plan is an HMO,
or when the plan does not require a gatekeeper and does not have a list of
doctors.
An additional managed care question (MC05) was asked to
differentiate between HMOs and POS plans, but due to an error in the skip logic
of the questionnaire, the data were not collected for all relevant plans, and
this variable will not be publicly released.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.5.2 Family Satisfaction
with Plan
Satisfaction with Plan questions were asked at rounds 2
(Panel 3) and 4 (Panel 2) for families where at least one member was covered by
the plan at the time of the interview. The variable SATELIG indicates whether
the policyholder-establishment was eligible for the Satisfaction with Plan
questions. Respondents were eligible for the Satisfaction with Plan questions if
someone in the RU was covered by the plan on the date of the interview and the
insurance was hospital/physician or Medicare supplemental coverage.The Satisfaction with
Plan variables are APPT, CHANPROV,
COSTQUAL, CUSTSRV, DIFFREF, PAIDLESS, PLANREF, PLANSAT, RECPLAN, SATAMT,
SATCHOIC, SATCOVH, SATCOVMH, SATCOVP, SATCOVPM, SATCS, SATPAPER.
When multiple RU members were covered by the same private
plan, the respondent answered the questions once and described satisfaction for
the policyholder and family members. These family-level responses are on each
round 2 or 4 covered person-policyholder-establishment record for the
policyholder-establishment and do not vary across covered persons.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.5.3 Change in Plan Name
The variable NAMECHNG indicates whether the name of the plan
obtained through the establishment changed from the prior round. For Panel 3
rounds 2 and 3 and Panel 2 rounds 3, 4 and 5, NAMECHNG is set to "yes' if
someone in the RU had coverage through the establishment in the prior round and
still had coverage at the time of the interview, and the respondent answered yes
to the following question (OE09, OE23, OE35):
Since (START DATE), has there been any change in the plan name of
the health insurance (POLICYHOLDER) has through (ESTABLISHMENT)?
If the respondent answered no, then NAMECHNG is coded no. If
no one in the RU had coverage through the establishment in the prior round, no
one had coverage at the time of the interview, or it is a round 1 record, then
NAMECHNG is set to "inapplicable."When the respondent answered yes, then MEPS
HC asked about
types of benefits and managed care, which are updated on the PRPL file.
There are two important caveats to this variable. First, changes in
plan name do not necessarily imply the plan itself changed. For example, the plan may
have merely changed its name for marketing purposes. Second, the variable NAMECHNG
pertains only to changes in plan names at the same establishment; a policyholder
may switch plans if she or he switches the establishment (including employer)
through which he or she obtains insurance. Switches in EPRSIDs and ESTBIDs
between rounds indicate those other types of changes.
Return To Table Of Contents
3.6 Links to Job Providing Insurance
For employment-based insurance, there are two
variables linking the insurance to details about the jobs through which the insurance was
obtained, CMJINS and JOBSIDX.
Most people with employment-based insurance have it
through current main jobs. The variable CMJINS indicates whether the insurance is
through a current main job. When the insurance is not employment-based, then
CMJINS is set to "inapplicable." Generally, many edited and imputed
variables describing policyholders' current main jobs are available on
HC-009 and HC-028. If CMJINS =1 and the policyholder has a PUF record (PUF9FLG
or PUF28FLG), then edited and imputed current main jobs variables are available
on the indicated PUF.
For other types of jobs (for example, former jobs),
the JOBS files (HC-025 and HC-019) contain edited variables describing the job. JOBSFILE
indicates which jobs file contains information about the source of coverage. In
most cases, information about the job is in HC-025, but for Panel 2, if the job
ended before 1998, information about the job is contained in HC-019. JOBSIDX is
the link to the record for the job in the JOBS file that is the source of
coverage. This link is slightly complicated, because the variable JOBSINFR
indicates links that were inferred, rather than obtained directly from the
respondent. Links were inferred because when persons reported employment-based
health insurance at the end of the insurance section (HX23), the plan is not
always easily linked to a specific job. Most of these cases were directly linked
by establishment IDs, but others required inferences based on whether the
insurance was through a current or former job (EMPLSTAT), and some could not be
linked at all.
The variable EMPLSTAT contains the answers to question HP12, which
is asked only about the policyholders of employment-related insurance first mentioned at
the end of the insurance section of the interview (HX23), and it is asked only
in the interview round where the insurance was first reported. Thus, it is
useful only for the cases where links to jobs could not be inferred. Because it
does not contain updated information about the policyholder’s employment at
each interview, the value is set to -2 in subsequent rounds, and users can link
back to the PRPL record from the prior rounds, using the DUPERSID and EPRSIDX,
to get the original information.
Return To Table Of Contents
References
U.S. Department of Labor. Pension and Welfare Benefits
Administration. 1999. Health Benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act (COBRA). Washington, DC. [Available on-line at:
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/cobra99.pdf]
Return To Table Of Contents
D. Variable Source Crosswalk
VARIABLE TO SOURCE CROSSWALK
FOR MEPS PUBLIC USE FILE HC-047: 1998 FILE
HEALTH INSURANCE VARIABLES - SOURCE
Variable |
Label |
Source |
PHOLDER |
POLICY HOLDER |
HP 9, 11 |
DEPENDNT |
DEPENDENT OF POLICY HOLDER |
PRIVCAT, PHOLDER |
R2FLAG |
FLAG:PERSON IS IN P3R2 RU WITH INTV IN 1999 |
Constructed |
CMJINS |
CMJ AS THE SOURCE OF PLAN: 1 YES, 2 NO |
PRIVCAT, RJ01A, RJ0189A, EM08, EM14 |
EVALCOVR |
COVERED @ INTERVIEW OR 12/31 |
HQ1, 2 |
STATUS1 – STATUS24 |
STATUS -MONTH 1 through
STATUS -MONTH 24 |
HQ1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
TYPEFLAG |
TYPE OF ESTABLISHMENT |
HX 3, 23; EM 6, 8, 12, 14, 19, 22, 23, 28, 31, 32, 41, 44, 45, 54, 57,
58, 71, 74, 75, 83, 86, 87, 118, 120 |
PRIVCAT |
CATEGORY OF PRIVATE COVERAGE |
HX 2, 3, 23, 48, 61, 63; HP 1, 2, 9, 11, 15, 16; EM 17, 18, 26, 27, 39,
40, 52, 53, 69, 70, 81, 82, 91, 92, 117 |
HOSPINSX |
TYPE OF HI GOTTEN: HOSPITAL/HMO (EDITED) |
HX48 |
MSUPINSX |
TYPE OF HI GOTTEN: MEDIGAP (EDITED) |
HX48 |
DENTLINS |
TYPE OF HI GOTTEN: DENTAL |
HX48 |
VISIONIN |
TYPE OF HI GOTTEN: VISION |
HX48 |
LTCINS |
TYPE OF HI GOTTEN: LTC-NURSING HOME |
HX48 |
PMEDINS |
TYPE OF HI GOTTEN: PRESCRIPTION DRUG |
HX48 |
COBRA |
COBRA COVERAGE: 1=YES, 2=NO |
HX 3, 23; HP12, 14 ; OE14; EM 8, 9, 14, 15, 22, 23, 24, 31, 32, 33, 44,
46, 57, 58, 74, 75, 76, 80, 85A, 86, 87, 88; RJ 1A, 189A; PRIVCAT |
COVTYPIN |
COVERAGE @INTVW: 1=SINGLE, 2=FAMILY |
HP 15, 16, 17 |
OOPELIG |
FLAG: POLICYHOLDER ESTB HAS PREMIUM |
RN; TYPEFLAG; HX 3, 23; HP14 |
OOPPREM |
MONTHLY OUT-OF-POCKET PREMIUM, R1 (ED) |
HX 61, 62 |
PREMLEVX |
HOW MUCH OF PREMIUM PAID BY FAM (ED) |
HX 61, 62 |
BYFED |
FEDERAL GOVT PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
BYSTATE |
STATE GOVT PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
BYLOCAL |
LOCAL GOVT PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
BYSOMGOV |
SOME GOVT PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
BYEMPL |
EMPLOYER PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
BYUNION |
UNION PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
BYOTHER |
OTHER PAID FOR PRIV PLAN PREMIUM |
HX63 |
UPRHMO |
HMO COVERAGE (FROM PRPL) |
HX 3, 23, 49_02.TYPE, 50_02.TYPE, 54_02.TYPE; MC 1 |
UPRMNC |
PLAN REQRD COVRD PERS USE GATEKEEPER |
MC 2 |
DRLIST |
DOES PLAN HAVE A BOOK/LIST OF DOCTORS? |
MC 3 |
VISITPYX |
PLAN PAY FOR NON-HMO, NON-REFER DR VISIT (ED) |
MC 4 |
NAMECHNG |
HAS THERE BEEN A CHANGE IN PLAN NAME |
OE 9, 23, 35 |
SATELIG |
ELIG. FOR SATIS. PLAN QUEST: 1=YES, 2=NO |
PRIVCAT, RN, EVALCOVR |
APPT |
HOW DIFFICULT TO GET SPECIALIST APPT? |
SP 7 |
CHANPROV |
DID HAVE TO CHANGE PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER |
SP 5 |
COSTQUAL |
IMPORTANCE COST/QUALITY IN CHOOSING PLAN |
SP 15 |
CUSTSRV |
HAS CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE/ADMIN OFFICE |
SP 11 |
DIFFREF |
HOW DIFFICULT TO GET SPECIALIST REFERRAL |
SP 6 |
PAIDLESS |
HAS PLAN PAID LESS THAN EXPECTED? |
SP 10 |
PLANREF |
PLAN REFUSED TO PAY FOR OR APPROVE CARE |
SP 9 |
PLANSAT |
SATISFACTION WITH INSURANCE PLAN |
SP 2 |
RECPLAN |
LIKELY TO RECOMMEND PLAN? |
SP 3 |
SATAMT |
SATISFIED WITH AMOUNT PAID |
SP 14 |
SATCHOIC |
HOW SATISFIED WITH CHOICE OF PROVIDER |
SP 4 |
SATCOVH |
HOW SATISFIED WITH HOSPITALIZATION? |
SP 8_02 |
SATCOVMH |
HOW SATISFIED WITH MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE |
SP 8_04 |
SATCOVP |
HOW SATISFIED W/ PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE? |
SP 8_01 |
SATCOVPM |
HOW SATISFIED WITH PRESCRIPTION MEDS? |
SP 8_03 |
SATCS |
HAS CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE/ADMIN OFFICE |
SP 12 |
SATPAPER |
SATISFIED W/ AMOUNT/DIFFICULTY PAPERWORK |
SP 13 |
EMPLSTAT |
POLICYHOLDER EMPLOYMENT STATUS |
HP 12 |
Return To Table Of Contents
Return to the MEPS Homepage
|
Back
Email Updates
