This public use data file is one in a series of event-level public use data files drawn from the 1997 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Household Component (HC). Released as an ASCII file with SAS, SPSS, and STATA programming statements and in SAS transport format, this public use file provides information on the purchase of and expenditures for medical equipment, supplies, glasses and other medical items for a nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States and can be used to make estimates of the utilization and expenditures associated with medical items during the 1997 calendar year. This file consists of 1997 data obtained in the 1997 portion of round 3, and rounds 4 and 5 for Panel 1, as well as rounds 1, 2, and the 1997 portion of round 3 for Panel 2 of the survey.
The Other Medical Expense Public Use Data File consists of 2 event-level data files. File 1 contains characteristics associated with the medical expense and imputed expenditure data. File 2 contains pre-imputed expenditure data.
SPSS and STATA Programming Statements have been added.
Update #1: 03/01/01
An updated version of Files 1 and 2 of the HC-016C file was released on 03/01/01.
This file is identical to the previous version with the exception of the weight variable (WTDPER97). The full year person weight previously released has been adjusted for those who died in 1997. MEPS sample persons in the 1997 full year file who died in 1997 while residing in the general population were identified. In order that the estimate more accurately reflect known numbers of deaths, the weights for those aged 65 and older were ratio adjusted to estimates from the 1996 Medicare Beneficiaries Survey; the weights of those under age 65 were ratio adjusted to 1997 National Center for Health Statistics Vital Statistics data. The total population estimate went from 270,965,010 to 271,278,585.