Person Variables. There are four 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 PUF93FLG indicates whether the person has a record on HC- 093, and PUF99FLG indicates whether the person has a record on HC-099. 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 3, and 4 of Panel 10 and Rounds 1, and 2 of Panel 11) or on December 31 (Round 3 of Panel 11 and Round 5 of Panel 10). 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 11, STATUS1- STATUS12 represent coverage from January 2006 through December 2006, and STATUS13-24 are inapplicable, because this information is in the year 2007. For Panel 10, STATUS13-STATUS24 represent coverage from January 2006 through December 2006, and STATUS1-STATUS12 are inapplicable, because this information is in the year 2005. Coverage is reported only for the interview reference period. For example, if a person from Panel 11 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.
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 PUF13FLG indicates whether the person has a record on HC-013, and PUF38FLG indicates whether the person has a record on HC-038. 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 first interview 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 1999 (HC-038), 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 3 and rounds 1, and 2 of Panel 4) or on December 31 (round 3 of Panel 4 and round 5 of Panel 3). 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 4, STATUS1-STATUS12 represent coverage from January 1999 through December 1999, and STATUS13-24 are inapplicable, because this information is in year 2000. For Panel 3, STATUS13- STATUS24 represent coverage from January 1999 through December 1999, and STATUS1- STATUS12 are inapplicable, because this information is in the year 1998. Coverage is reported only for the interview reference period. For example, if a person from Panel 4 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 res...
