MEPS HC-211: 2019 Jobs File

February 2021

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
(301) 427-1406

Table of Contents

A. Data Use Agreement
B. Background
1.0 Household Component
2.0 Medical Provider Component
3.0 Survey Management and Data Collection
C. Technical and Programming Information
1.0 General Information
2.0 Data File Information
2.1 File Contents
2.2 Person-Level Estimates
2.3 Codebook Structure
2.4 Reserve Codes
2.5 Codebook Format
2.6 Variable Source and Naming Conventions
3.0 Longitudinal Analysis
3.1 Using MEPS Data for Trend Analysis
D. Variable-Source Crosswalk
Appendix 1. Sample SAS Program
Appendix 2. Sample Stata Program
Appendix 3. MEPS Industry Codes Condensing Rules
Appendix 4. MEPS Occupation Codes Condensing Rules

A. Data Use Agreement

Individual identifiers have been removed from the micro-data contained in these files. 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:

1. No one is to use the data in this data set in any way except for statistical reporting and analysis; and
   
   
2. 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; and
   
   
3. 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. Furthermore, linkage of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the National Health Interview Survey may not occur outside the AHRQ Data Center, NCHS Research Data Center (RDC) or the U.S. Census RDC network.

By using these 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.

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B. Background

1.0 Household Component

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) provides nationally representative estimates of health care use, expenditures, sources of payment, and health insurance coverage for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. The MEPS Household Component (HC) also provides estimates of respondents’ health status, demographic and socio-economic characteristics, employment, access to care, and satisfaction with health care. Estimates can be produced for individuals, families, and selected population subgroups. The panel design of the survey, which includes 5 Rounds of interviews covering 2 full calendar years, provides data for examining person level changes in selected variables such as expenditures, health insurance coverage, and health status. Using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) technology, information about each household member is collected, and the survey builds on this information from interview to interview. All data for a sampled household are reported by a single household respondent.

The MEPS HC was initiated in 1996. Each year a new panel of sample households is selected. Because the data collected are comparable to those from earlier medical expenditure surveys conducted in 1977 and 1987, it is possible to analyze long-term trends. Each annual MEPS HC sample size is about 15,000 households. Data can be analyzed at either the person or event level. Data must be weighted to produce national estimates.

The set of households selected for each panel of the MEPS HC is a subsample of households participating in the previous year’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. The NHIS sampling frame provides a nationally representative sample of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized. In 2006, the NHIS implemented a new sample design, which included Asian persons in addition to households with Black and Hispanic persons in the oversampling of minority populations. NHIS introduced a new sample design in 2016 that discontinued oversampling of these minority groups. The linkage of the MEPS to the previous year’s NHIS provides additional data for longitudinal analytic purposes.

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2.0 Medical Provider Component

Upon completion of the household CAPI interview and obtaining permission from the household survey respondents, a sample of medical providers are contacted by telephone to obtain information that household respondents cannot accurately provide. This part of the MEPS is called the Medical Provider Component (MPC) and information is collected on dates of visits, diagnosis and procedure codes, charges and payments. The Pharmacy Component (PC), a subcomponent of the MPC, does not collect charges or diagnosis and procedure codes but does collect drug detail information, including National Drug Code (NDC) and medicine name, as well as amounts of payment. The MPC is not designed to yield national estimates. It is primarily used as an imputation source to supplement/replace household reported expenditure information.

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3.0 Survey Management and Data Collection

MEPS HC and MPC data are collected under the authority of the Public Health Service Act. Data are collected under contract with Westat, Inc. (MEPS HC) and Research Triangle Institute (MEPS MPC). Data sets and summary statistics are edited and published in accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the Public Health Service Act and the Privacy Act. The National Center for Health Statistics (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, micro data files, and tables via the MEPS website.

Additional information on MEPS is available from the MEPS project manager or the MEPS public use data manager at the Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 (301-427-1406).

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C. Technical and Programming Information

Section C of this document offers a brief overview of the data provided in MEPS public use release HC-211, as well as the content and structure of the codebook, reserved code values, and variable naming conventions. It is followed by Section D containing the Variable-Source Crosswalk, Appendix 1 containing sample SAS program code, and Appendix 2 containing sample Stata program code. A copy of the survey instrument used to collect the information on this file is available on the MEPS website.

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1.0 General Information

In the Employment section, MEPS collects complete job-related information in the round in which a job is first reported. While they vary by job type (see Section 2.0), the data reported for a job in its first survey round may include earnings by type (gross salary, tips, etc.), start and stop dates, hours and weeks worked, establishment size and industry, occupation, presence of retirement and other benefits, self-employment versus other status, temporary or seasonal situations, and health insurance availability. Minimal data updates are available for later rounds in which the job continues.

Each Full-Year Jobs file contains job records from two MEPS panels. The 2019 Jobs file provided in this release, MEPS HC-211, contains job-level information collected in Rounds 3 through 5 for Panel 23 and Rounds 1 through 3 for Panel 24 of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (i.e., the rounds for the MEPS panels covering calendar year 2019), as illustrated below.

In order to obtain complete information for a job, users must note the round in which the job is first reported. This is because MEPS collects complete Jobs information in that round only, as noted above.

For the first year panel, in this case Panel 24, data from Rounds 1, 2, and 3 are included in the 2019 Jobs file. Complete information for any Panel 24 job is available, whether that job was first reported in Round 1, 2, or 3. This is the case for any first year panel (the panel that began its first year of interviewing in the given year) in a Full-Year Jobs file.

For the second year panel (the panel that continued with its second year of interviewing in the given year), in this case Panel 23, data from Rounds 3, 4, and 5 are included in this file. If the Round 3, 4, or 5 job continued from Round 1 or Round 2, users must look back to the Jobs file from the previous year (2018) to obtain complete information for the job. Appendix 1 includes sample SAS code and Appendix 2 contains sample Stata code to assist users in obtaining this information. Users should note that, because of differences in sample composition between the current year and the previous year files (i.e., a person was included in the previous year’s delivery but not the current year or vice versa), or because more accurate information was received in Round 4 or Round 5 comments following the delivery of the Rounds 1 – 3 Jobs records in the previous year, there occasionally may not be a corresponding Round 1 or Round 2 job in the previous year file.

This file is being released as a research file and has undergone the standard quality control procedures usually performed on MEPS data files. The file includes a total of 50,334 records, with each record representing a unique job for a person by round. This file presents information about jobs starting on or before 12/31/2019 only. The 2020 Jobs file release will present information on Panel 24 jobs starting in 2020.

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2.0 Data File Information

2.1 File Contents

Each record in the 2019 Jobs file represents one job reported by a person in a round. All persons age 16 and older in the MEPS are asked to report on jobs held. Depending on an individual’s job history, these reported jobs may be held:

• at the interview date,
• in the round but prior to the interview date, or
• prior to the round.

Only those persons reporting a job in a round will have a record in the 2019 Jobs file.

Record Identifiers

The unique record identifier is the variable JOBSIDX, which is composed of a person identifier (DUID + PID), a round identifier (RN), and a job number (JOBNUM). A panel indicator (PANEL) is included on the file to distinguish Round 3 jobs held by Panel 23 persons from Round 3 jobs held by those in Panel 24. The DUID identifier in this data release includes a 2-digit code to identify the panel and, as a result, JOBSIDX includes a panel identifier via DUID. The variable OrigRnd indicates the round a job was created. Therefore, it may or may not contain the same value as RN.

Each identifier variable (JOBSIDX, DUID, DUPERSID) begins with the 2-digit panel number. This allows analysts to easily identify records delivered in a previous year Jobs file (when panel is used in conjunction with other variables, such as RN and OrigRnd). In addition, CAPI assigns a unique job number that may not be used in subsequent rounds on different jobs. This 3-byte number, JOBNUM, is unique to the reporting unit (RU) and is set to a value that corresponds with the RU in which a person’s job was first reported (e.g. A RU is ‘1’, B RU is ‘2’, C RU is ‘3’, etc).

Initial Reporting Round

Most persons held only one job at the first interview date – their “Current Main Job.” For persons who held more than one job at the round’s interview date (a current job), respondents were asked to identify the main job. This job was classified as the “Current Main Job” and any other simultaneously held job was classified as a “Current Miscellaneous Job.” The MEPS also obtained some information on any former job (Former Main Job or Former Miscellaneous Job) held in the reference period but not at the interview date. For those persons neither working at the interview date nor earlier in the reference period, limited information on the last job the person held was collected. Additionally, for those persons age 55 or older who were identified as having retired from a job, the MEPS obtained some job-level information (Retirement Job).

The variable SUBTYPE indicates the type of job record – current main (1), current miscellaneous (2), former main (3), former miscellaneous (4), last job outside reference period (5), or retirement job (6). When a job is initially reported, MEPS asks for detailed information about any “Current Main Job” and basic information about other job types. Refer to the questionnaire to see which information was asked for each job type. The following variable list identifies when a variable could be set based on the job SUBTYPE. Self-employed and wage-earner status at a job also defines when a variable may be set. (Note: wage-earner is used to describe workers who are not self-employed.) The last column indicates if the variable is populated in the round in which the job is first reported (collection only), when the job is reviewed (review only), or both (collection and review).

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For last jobs outside of reference period and retirement jobs that ended more than two years prior to the beginning of the reference period, certain questions (HHMEMBER_M18 and TOTLEMP_M18) are not asked. The precise calculation of the two-year cut-off date is not possible for some persons due to allowed negative values on stop year, stop month, and reference period start month. Therefore, HHMEMBER_M18 and TOTLEMP_M18 may be collected for some jobs that ended more than two years prior to the reference period.

Skip Patterns

Due to many skip patterns, it is recommended that users of the 2019 Jobs file become familiar with the Employment section in the MEPS questionnaire. To aid users, a crosswalk between variables and MEPS questionnaire numbers is provided in this release. The following examples of variables involved in skip patterns are presented to be illustrative; these examples do not represent the full range of variables affected by questionnaire skip patterns.

In one example of a skip pattern, the MEPS does not obtain job-related benefits such as vacation, sick leave, and pension information for self-employed jobs, so those variables are coded as “-1 INAPPLICABLE” for those types of jobs. Nor does the MEPS attempt to obtain wage, salary, and information regarding whether the job was in the private sector, federal or local government (TYPEEMPL) for the self-employed. So again, due to the skip pattern, TYPEEMPL is coded as “-1 INAPPLICABLE” for self-employed jobs.

Conversely, the questions relating to business organization type (BUSINC, PROPRIET) are asked only of the self-employed, so the skip pattern results in those variables being coded as “-1 INAPPLICABLE” for jobs performed by wage earners.

Job Updates and “-1 INAPPLICABLE” Values

The MEPS used dependent interviewing in Rounds 3, 4, and 5 for Panel 23 and in Rounds 2 and 3 for Panel 24 (see section RJ in the Employment section of the questionnaire). In these rounds, the MEPS asked about current main and current miscellaneous jobs held at the previous round interview date to determine whether the jobholder continued to work at these jobs. For other job types (former, last, or retirement) reported in the previous round, MEPS does not ask any follow-up questions. These jobs, by definition, are no longer held by the person and therefore are not included on the file except in the round they are first reported.

With dependent interviewing, if a person still held a Current Main Job from the previous round, the MEPS asked whether the job was still the main job. For most jobholders, it was reported that they still worked at the same job and it was still their main job. If, in a subsequent interview, a job was no longer held, it was designated as a former job for that follow-up round. It is also possible, although unusual, for a job to change from main to miscellaneous (or vice versa) in a round subsequent to the initial report.

If job status remained the same for a continuing job (either main or miscellaneous), the MEPS asked only a subset of the employment questions as a review. Because the MEPS asked only this subset of questions if job status for a person did not change in later rounds, many job-level variables on the subsequent round’s job records are coded as “-1 INAPPLICABLE”; the complete information for a continued job is located on the record for the job in the first round in which it was reported. Thus, it is important to determine whether a job continues from the previous round when working with the job records. In rounds where this applies, the variables STILLAT (for jobs that were current main in the previous round) and STILLWRK (for jobs that were current miscellaneous in the previous round) indicate whether a person still holds the job at the subsequent round interview date. The variable SUBTYPE on the subsequent round record indicates whether the job is main or miscellaneous in that subsequent round. Note that if a Panel 23 job included in this 2019 file is continued from a Round 1 or 2 job (in the 2018 file), much of the information will be contained in the 2018 Jobs file (HC-203). Use that file to obtain the desired job characteristics. Appendix 1 provides a sample SAS program showing how to do this, and Appendix 2 provides a sample Stata program showing how to do this. Both sample programs take into account recent changes to JOBSIDX.

Any new job reported in a round following the initial interview is collected the same way as in the first interview round.

Variables that relate only to the review of a job reported in a previous round (DIFFWAGE, ESTBTHRU, INSESTB, MAIN_JOB, NOWTAKEI, OFFTAKEI, STILLAT, StillWorkFTPT, STILLWRK, RvwTotNumEmp, WHY_LEFT_M18, WhyChngPTToFT, WhyChngFTToPT) were not asked in Round 1, and these variables are coded as “-1 INAPPLICABLE” on a Jobs record for the round in which the job is initially reported.

Another type of job update pertains to situations where a reviewed current miscellaneous job becomes the current main job in the round. The flag variable TYPECHGD indicates if a job changed from a current miscellaneous job to a current main job. For these types of jobs, questions asked when the job was first reported as a current miscellaneous job are not re-asked, with three exceptions.

1. Responses to either EM540 or EM620 (typical hours worked per week) are used to populate the variable HRSPRWK. When originally reported, the current miscellaneous job was asked EM620 (but not asked 540). As a current main job, it will now be asked EM540 instead of EM620. Consequently, there may be different values on HRSPRWK between rounds.
   
   
2. Responses to either EM560 or EM630 (whether job is temporary) are used to populate the variable TEMPJOB. When originally reported, the current miscellaneous job was asked EM630 (but not asked EM560). As a current main job, it will now be asked EM560 instead of EM630. Consequently, there may be different values on TEMPJOB between rounds.
   
   
3. Responses to either EM570 or EM640 (whether job is seasonal) are used to populate the variable SESNLJOB. When originally reported, the current miscellaneous job was asked EM640 (but not asked EM570). As a current main job, it will now be asked EM570 instead of EM640. Consequently, there may be different values on SESNLJOB between rounds.

Exceptions to the “-1 INAPPLICABLE” Rule

Unlike the situation explained above for most variables on the file, for certain variables a value other than “-1 INAPPLICABLE” does not necessarily mean that a job is newly reported. For a small subset of variables, previous round variables are carried forward to the next round, even if there have been no updates to the variables since they were originally reported. There are two distinct situations in which this special treatment is used, due to internal processing needs.

The first type of exception occurs when questions related to the affected variables are skipped over as “-1 INAPPLICABLE” during the interview in rounds subsequent to the one in which the job was initially reported, but have their originally reported response carried forward from round to round. This group includes the following 14 variables: EMPLINS, HRSPRWK, HRS35WK, JOBTYPE, JSTRTY, JSTRTM, MORELOC, NUMEMPS, OFFRDINS, PROVDINS, TYPEEMPL, JOBHASHI, HRSALBAS, and RETIRJOB. Note that HRSALBAS and RETIRJOB may also be updated in subsequent rounds.

The second type of exception occurs for certain questions that are asked during the review of a job in rounds following the round in which the job was initially reported. If there is no change based on the review, the value for the affected variable is copied forward from the previous round. If there is a change, the variable is updated to reflect the new information. These five variables are: JSTOPY, NOWTAKEI, OFFTAKEI, SUBTYPE, and TOTLEMP_M18.

Variables related to earnings (such as HRLYWAGE, GROSSPAY, SALARIED) are treated similarly to the five variables just discussed. In the review section, the MEPS attempted to obtain information regarding changes in wages for the same job from round to round. If there were no wage changes (indicated by the DIFFWAGE variable), then the most recent round’s information was carried forward. If changes were recorded, then the relevant variables were updated. For every new job reported for a person, the MEPS attempted to obtain current wage information.

Top-Coding, Bottom-Coding, Editing, and Confidentiality

Wage Top-Coding

For reasons of confidentiality, earnings variables on the file were top-coded. The earnings variables include HRLYWAGE, BONSAMT, COMMAMT, TIPSAMT, DAYWAGE, WKLYAMT, GROSSPAY, and MAKEAMT. A value of “-10 HOURLY WAGE >= $96.15” for one of these variables on a record indicates that the variable had a positive value and that the hourly rate for that earnings variable for the record was greater than or equal to $96.15. The process by which the top-code value for the Jobs file is derived incorporates the wage top-code process used in the Full-Year Use file top-coding process. The purpose of top-coding is to ensure confidentiality for each person across files.

In addition to using wages from the first report of a current main job, updated wages from that job reported in any subsequent round are also included in deriving the wage top-code value. On the Full-Year 2019 Use file, any person who has a wage for any job in any round that is greater than or equal to the top-code value will have all wages for all jobs top-coded, regardless of round. Any person whose wages are top-coded on the Full-Year 2019 Use file also has all wages on all jobs top-coded in the 2019 Jobs file.

Moreover, because other jobs where wages are reported are included in the 2019 Jobs file but not summarized in the Full-Year 2019 Use file (i.e., newly reported former main jobs and current/former miscellaneous jobs), and these wages may exceed the current year top-code value, wages for these jobs and all jobs belonging to the same jobholder are top-coded on the 2019 Jobs file. In turn, the wages of these persons are top-coded in the Full-Year 2019 Use file as well.

Note that there are also some jobs where respondents indicate that a supplemental wage, such as a commission, tip, or bonus, is greater than or equal to the wage top-code value but, at that same job, base wage such as the annual salary is not. For these cases, only the tips, commissions, or bonus amounts were top-coded on the job where they are greater than or equal to the wage top-code value (note, these supplemental wages only reside on the 2019 Jobs file). All other wage amounts for all jobs for these persons were left as reported. (This applies to wages and jobs on both the 2019 Full-Year Use and 2019 Jobs files.)

For some persons in Panel 23, whose wages were imputed in Round 1 or Round 2 and copied forward into the Full-Year 2019 Use wage variable HRWG31X, the Round 3 wage as carried forward may meet or exceed the wage top-code value on the 2019 Jobs file. For these previously imputed cases, the main wage at the job is set to “-15 CANNOT BE COMPUTED” in the 2019 files.

Additional Wage Information

To improve the quality of wage reports, CAPI prompts the respondent to confirm wages reported in the Employment Wage section if a wage amount falls outside a specified wage range.

To calculate the hourly rate for earnings types not reported on an hourly basis, the number of hours per week worked and in some cases the number of weeks worked were used in conjunction with the various amounts. These hours and weeks are included on the file along with the reported earnings amounts, but not the calculated hourly rates. (Earnings variables were not reconciled with income data collected elsewhere in the MEPS.)

Establishment Size Information

The establishment size variable for the self-employed is TOTLEMP_M18. In addition, two variables are available containing the individual responses collected at RJ110 and EM740 (number of employees at a self-employed job). They are RvwTotNumEmp (establishment size at continuing self-employed job) and TotNumEmp (establishment size at newly reported self-employed job), respectively.

The establishment size for wage-earners can be found in NUMEMPS (establishment size at non-self-employed job); this value is collected at EM430 (number of employees). Respondents who did not know the actual establishment size (NUMEMPS) are asked in question EM440 to choose approximate establishment size from a number of size ranges. These responses are used to create the variable ESTMATE1_M##. The categorical values available to respondents in EM440 has changed over time. Estimated establishment size for respondents in Panel 24 Round 1 and Round 2 and in Panel 23 Round 3 and Round 4 can be found in ESTMATE1_M18. Estimated establishment size for respondents in Panel 24 Round 3 and in Panel 23 Round 5 are reflected in the variable ESTMATE1_M19.

The value “-15 CANNOT BE COMPUTED” is not an allowed value for ESTMATE1_M18 or ESTMATE1_M19.

In 2018, the constructed variable ESTMATE2 contained a third coding schema developed from both the pre- and post-2017 ranges. As of 2019, ESTMATE2 is no longer delivered in this file.

For confidentiality reasons, NUMEMPS, TOTLEMP_M18, RvwTotNumEmp and TotNumEmp were top coded to “-10 # OF EMP >= 12,000” for establishment sizes greater than or equal to 12,000 employees.

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Job Start/Stop Year

In addition to top coding wages and establishment size, the start year of job (JSTRTY) and the stop year of job (JSTOPY) are bottom-coded. This is done because a person’s age may be calculated using the job start or stop year and that age may indicate that the jobholder is older than 85 years, the age top-code value. This value is calculated by taking the current delivery year (e.g. 2019), subtracting the age top-code value (i.e. 85 years of age), then adding back 15 (i.e. the age of a person in the year before entering the work force as defined in MEPS). For the 2019 Jobs file, the bottom code value for the job start and stop year on jobs reported in Panel 24 Round 1, Round 2, or Round 3 and Panel 23 Round 4 or Round 5 is 1949. Jobs that began in Panel 23 Round 1, Round 2 or Round 3 JOBSIDX were delivered in the 2018 Jobs file. These records may retain the 2018 bottom code value of 1948.

Temporary and Seasonal Jobs

Two variables on the file pertain to the temporary and seasonal nature of a person’s main or miscellaneous job. The variable TEMPJOB indicates whether a main or miscellaneous job is temporary (i.e., is a current main job for a limited amount of time or until the completion of a project). The variable SESNLJOB indicates either that a main or miscellaneous job is available only during certain times of the year or that the individual is working throughout the entire year at that job. Teachers and other school personnel who work only during the school year are considered to work year round. These questions are asked of newly reported jobs only. These variables are set to “-1 INAPPLICABLE” for all subsequent rounds. These questions are not asked of newly reported former miscellaneous jobs, last jobs outside of reference period, and retirement jobs.

Reason No Longer at Place of Employment

In cases where a former job is newly reported, questions are asked regarding why the person is no longer at that place of work. For wage earners, this information is found in YLEFT_M18. For self-employed persons, this information is collected in YNOBUSN_M18.

It is important to note that the retirement job classification in the variable SUBTYPE is independent of any retirement response in the following variables:

• YNOBUSN_M18, which relates to the question why a person no longer has a self-employed business;
  
  
• WHY_LEFT_M18, which relates to the question why a person left a job in the current round.

Health Insurance Data

Questions about employment-related health insurance are asked both when any type of job is newly reported and when any continuing job is reviewed. For main jobs, either newly reported or changing from miscellaneous, the variable that indicates whether insurance is held through that establishment is EMPLINS. For all non-main jobs, the variable JOBHASHI indicates whether insurance is held through that establishment.

For a newly reported job, depending on whether employment-related insurance is held or not, there may be follow-up information gathered which is contained in the following variables:

• OFFRDINS, which notes whether health insurance is offered through the job in cases where the jobholder reports that they do not hold health insurance through the job;
  
  
• DIFFPLNS, which notes whether a choice of health insurance plans is available for cases where the jobholder reports that health insurance is either offered or held through the job;
  
  
• ANYINS, which notes whether health insurance coverage through the job is available to any other employees at the establishment in cases where the jobholder does not hold health insurance through the job and is not offered health insurance coverage through the job.

For a continuing job, when no health insurance was held through the job in the round in which the job was first reported but health insurance was offered through the job, the question RJ70 OFFTAKEI is asked in later rounds to determine whether the employee now holds the health insurance that is offered through the job. (Note: if health insurance through this job was reported as being held via RJ70 in the prior round, RJ70 is not asked in the current round.)

Similarly, the insurance status question RJ80 (NOWTAKEI) is asked to determine whether health insurance is now held through the job in the following cases:

• insurance through the job ended in a prior round or
  
  
• insurance coverage was never reported through the job and the person was not offered insurance through the job in the round a job was first reported or
  
  
• the respondent disavows coverage through the job in the Health Insurance section that was previously indicated in the Employment section of the interview

MEPS then includes several clarifying questions regarding health insurance availability at an employer. Where the person does not report, does not know, or refuses to indicate the insurance coverage status through the job at RJ70 or reports no insurance coverage through the job at RJ80, the respondent is asked if the person was offered insurance through the job at RJ90 (ESTBTHRU).

Lastly, when a respondent indicates that the jobholder of a reviewed job neither holds insurance through the job nor was offered health insurance at the job, the respondent is asked if any other employees were offered health insurance through the job at RJ100 (INSESTB).

In some cases, respondents will indicate in the Health Insurance section that health insurance reported in the Employment section was either wholly or partially reported in error. This is referred to as insurance being “disavowed.” If newly reported health insurance through the job is disavowed in the Health Insurance section, follow-up questions (HX21, HX22, HX23) regarding whether health insurance is offered at the job, whether more than one plan is available, and whether health insurance is offered to any employees are asked in the Health Insurance section. This information is used in an editing process whereby responses in the Health Insurance section are transferred into the Employment or Review of Jobs sections. As a result, the disavowal process may result in a change to values originally collected in the Employment or Review of Jobs section (wherever the health insurance was initially reported). The complete list of variables potentially impacted includes: EMPLINS, JOBHASHI, OFFRDINS, DIFFPLNS, ANYINS, and PROVDINS, collected in the Employment section, and NOWTAKEI, OFFTAKEI, ESTBTHRU, and INSESTB, collected in the Review of Jobs section. In some cases, a disavowal may result only in a change to the value of PROVDINS.

Health insurance through an employer can be disavowed in MEPS based on a respondent’s answer to one of four questions (HX14, HX15, HX20, HP70). To help users understand the source of the disavowal, the variable HIDISAVW indicates which of the following questions resulted in the disavowal. HIDISAVW will include only one source among these options. Please note, however, that it is possible for a respondent to disavow one source of coverage at HX15 and then later disavow the second source of coverage at HP70. In these cases, HIDISAVW will be set to HP70.

1. HX14 – This question is asked if both employer and union coverage are reported at EM710 (PROVDINS) to determine if there is 1 ONE PLAN, 2 TWO PLANS, or if 3 INSURANCE WAS REPORTED IN ERROR. HIDISAVW = HX14 indicates that HX14 = 3 and that there is neither insurance coverage through the employer nor insurance coverage through the union and that updates were made to the insurance variables collected in the Employment section (EMPLINS, JOBHASHI, OFFRDINS, DIFFPLNS, ANYINS, NOWTAKEI, OFFTAKEI, ESTBTHRU, INSESTB, PROVDINS) during the disavowal clean-up process.
   
   
2. HX15 – This question is asked if, at HX14, the respondent indicates 1 ONE PLAN (HX14 = 1). At HX15, the respondent must select either insurance coverage through the employer or insurance coverage through the union. Depending on which of these are chosen (employer or union) the other source of coverage was disavowed. For example, if HX14 = 1 and HX15 = employer, the insurance coverage through the union will be disavowed. The originally reported value of PROVDINS = 3, both employer and union, will be edited to PROVDINS = 1, employer only. Conversely, if HX15 = union, the insurance coverage through the employer will be disavowed, and the originally reported value of PROVDINS = 3 will be edited to PROVDINS = 2, union only.
   
   
3. HX20 – This question is asked if either insurance coverage through the employer only or insurance coverage through the union only are reported at EM660 ((EMPLINS or JOBHASHI=1) and INUNION<>1) or EM710 (PROVDINS = 1 EMPLOYER ONLY or 2 UNION ONLY). If the respondent volunteers that the job-related insurance coverage reported at HX20 was in error, the insurance coverage reported in the Employment or Review of Jobs section is removed during the disavowal clean-up process.
   
   
4. HP70 – This question is asked of private health insurance coverage through a job that was reported in the Employment section. The respondent is asked to verify that the jobholder is the policyholder of the job related insurance coverage. If the response is NO, REFUSED, DON’T KNOW, the job-related insurance coverage is removed during the disavowal clean-up process.

Industry and Occupation Coding

Industry and occupation codes were assigned by professional coders at the Census Bureau based on verbatim descriptions provided by respondents during the survey interview. The codes are determined at a detailed 4-digit level and then collapsed into broader groups on the file to ensure the confidentiality of the records. INDCODEX contains industry information and OCCCODEX contains occupation information. Appendices 3 and 4 contain crosswalks between the detailed and collapsed codes for industry and occupation.

With the 2010 file, the Census Bureau began using 2007 Industry and 2010 Occupation codes, which were developed for the Bureau’s Current Population Survey and American Community Survey. These updated coding schemes incorporate minor changes from the 2003 industry and occupation codes used for the 2002-2009 files; therefore, INDCODEX and OCCCODEX for 2010 and later files will be comparable to those variables on the 2002-2009 files. (Industry and occupation variables for pre-2002 files are not comparable to those for later files.)

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2.2 Person-Level Estimates

This 2019 Jobs file does not include any weights necessary to extrapolate this data to the U.S. population. To make person-level estimates, link to any of the 2019 MEPS files and use the person-level weight for the appropriate panel. The link should be made through the variable DUPERSID. Note that not all persons in the MEPS have positive weights and job records; only those persons who have either a positive person-level or family-level weight in the 2019 Full-Year Person-Level file are included in the 2019 Jobs file.

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2.3 Codebook Structure

For each variable on the 2019 Jobs file, an unweighted frequency is provided in the accompanying codebook file.

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2.4 Reserved Codes

The value -15 (CANNOT BE COMPUTED) assigned to MEPS constructed variables in cases where there is not enough information from the MEPS instrument to calculate the constructed variable. “Not enough information” is often the result of skip patterns in the data or from missing information resulting from MEPS responses of -7 (REFUSED) or -8 (DK). Note that reserved code -8 includes cases where the information from the question was “not ascertained” or where the respondent chose “don’t know”.

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2.5 Codebook Format

This codebook describes an ASCII dataset (with related SAS, SPSS, R, and Stata programming statements and data user information), although the data are also provided in a SAS transport file. The file contains 84 variables and has a logical record length of 268 with an additional 2-byte carriage return/line feed at the end of each record.

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2.6 Variable Source and Naming Conventions

Beginning in 2018, as variable collection, universe, or categories are altered, the variable name will be appended with “_Myy” to indicate in which year the alterations took place. Details about these alterations can be found throughout this document.

In general, variable names reflect the content of the variable. Due to system changes, variable names are no longer restricted to 8 characters. Variables contained on this file were derived from the questionnaire itself or from the CAPI. The source of each variable is identified in Section D. Variable-Source Crosswalk. Sources for each variable are indicated in one of two ways:

1. Variables derived from CAPI or assigned in sampling are so indicated as “CAPI Derived” or “Assigned in Sampling,” respectively;
   
   
2. Variables that come from one or more specific questions have those questionnaire sections and/or question numbers listed in the “Source” column.

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3.0 Longitudinal Analysis

Panel-specific longitudinal files are available for downloading in the data section of the MEPS website. For each panel, the longitudinal file comprises MEPS survey data obtained in Rounds 1 through 5 of the panel and can be used to analyze changes over a two-year period. Variables in the file pertaining to survey administration, demographics, employment, health status, disability days, quality of care, health insurance, and medical care use and expenditures were obtained from the MEPS full-year Consolidated files from the two years covered by that panel. For more details or to download the data files, please see Longitudinal Weight Files.

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3.1 Using MEPS Data for Trend Analysis

MEPS began in 1996, and the utility of the survey for analyzing health care trends expands with each additional year of data; however, it is important to consider a variety of factors when examining trends over time using MEPS. Tests of statistical significance should be conducted to assess the likelihood that observed trends are not attributable to sampling variation. The length of time being analyzed should also be considered. In particular, large shifts in survey estimates over short periods of time (e.g., from one year to the next) that are statistically significant should be interpreted with caution unless they are attributable to known factors such as changes in public policy, economic conditions, or MEPS survey methodology.

For example, as a result of improved methods for collecting priority conditions data implemented in 2007, prevalence measures prior to 2007 are not comparable to those from 2007 and beyond for many conditions. Users should refer to the documentation for the Conditions file (HC-214) for details.

With respect to methodological considerations, in 2013 MEPS introduced an effort to obtain more complete information about health care utilization from MEPS respondents with full implementation in 2014. This effort likely resulted in improved data quality and a reduction in underreporting starting in FY 2014 and could have some modest impact on analyses involving trends in utilization across years. The implementation of a new NHIS sample design in 2016 could also potentially affect trend analyses. The new NHIS sample design is based on more up-to-date information related to the distribution of housing units across the U.S. As a result, it can be expected to better cover the full U.S. civilian, noninstitutionalized population, the target population for MEPS, as well as many of its subpopulations. Better coverage of the target population helps to reduce the potential for bias in both NHIS and MEPS estimates.

Another change with the potential to affect trend analysis involved modifications to the MEPS instrument design and data collection process. These were introduced in the Spring of 2018 and thus affected data beginning with Round 1 of Panel 23, Round 3 of Panel 22, and Round 5 of Panel 21. Since the Full Year 2017 PUFs were established from data collected in Rounds 1-3 of Panel 22 and Rounds 3-5 of Panel 21, they reflected two different instrument designs. In order to mitigate the effect of such differences within the same full year file, the Panel 22, Round 3 data and the Panel 21 Round 5 data were transformed to make them as consistent as possible with data collected under the previous design. The changes in the instrument were designed to make the data collection effort more efficient and easy to administer with expectations that data on some items, such as those related to health care events, would be more complete with the potential of identifying more events. Increases in service use reported since the implementation of these changes are consistent with these expectations.

There are also statistical factors to consider in interpreting trend analyses. Looking at changes over longer periods of time can provide a more complete picture of underlying trends. Analysts may wish to consider using techniques to smooth or stabilize analyses of trends using MEPS data such as comparing pooled time periods (e.g., 1996-97 versus 2011-2012), working with moving averages or using modeling techniques with several consecutive years of MEPS data to test the fit of specified patterns over time. Finally, researchers should be aware of the impact of multiple comparisons on Type I error. Without making appropriate allowance for multiple comparisons, undertaking numerous statistical significance tests of trends increases the likelihood of concluding that a change has taken place when one has not.

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D. Variable-Source Crosswalk

FOR MEPS PUBLIC USE RELEASE HC-211

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Appendix 3. MEPS Industry Codes Condensing Rules

MEPS uses the 4-digit Census occupation and industry coding systems developed for the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey.

For industry coding, MEPS uses the 2007 4-digit Census industry codes. Descriptions of the 4-digit Census industry codes can be found at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

For occupation coding, MEPS uses the 2010 4-digit Census occupation codes. Descriptions of the 4-digit Census occupation codes can be found at the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

See Census IO Index for more information on the Census coding systems used by MEPS

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Appendix 4. MEPS Occupation Codes Condensing Rules

MEPS uses the 4-digit Census occupation and industry coding systems developed for the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey.

For industry coding, MEPS uses the 2007 4-digit Census industry codes. Descriptions of the 4-digit Census industry codes can be found at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

For occupation coding, MEPS uses the 2010 4-digit Census occupation codes. Descriptions of the 4-digit Census occupation codes can be found at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

See the Census IO Index for more information on the Census coding systems used by MEPS.

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