Alternative Measures of Medical Expenditures

PHIP_VAL2, MOOP2, FHIP_VAL2, FMOOP2

Starting with the 2018 CPS ASEC Bridge File and the 2019 CPS ASEC, the CPS ASEC contains a second, alternative measure of how much people pay in out-of-pocket insurance premiums, PHIP_VAL2. This variable was introduced because a review of past data suggested logical inconsistencies in respondents’ report of health insurance premiums. Some people report that they had an unsubsidized or partially subsidized private insurance plan but also report that they paid $0 in insurance premiums. For the variable PHIP_VAL2, a nonzero amount in insurance premiums (based on other data in the file) is imputed for persons with this inconsistent reporting pattern. The legacy variable, PHIP_VAL, which does not include this imputation, remains on the file. 

The file also contains alternative measures of individual medical spending (MOOP2), as well as family premium (FHIP_VAL2) and medical spending (FMOOP2). All three of these variables use PHIP_VAL2 as an input. Traditional measures of these additional variables which use the legacy version of premiums (PHIP_VAL) are available on the file as well. These variables do not have the ‘2’ suffix (MOOP, FMOOP, FHIP_VAL).

Measures of Self-Plus-One Plans

GRPFTYP2, DIRFTYP2, MRKFTYP2, MRKSFTYP2, MRKUNFTYP2, NONMFTYP2, MILFTYP2, NOW_GRPFTYP2, NOW_DIRFTYP2, NOW_MRKFTYP2, NOW_MRKSFTYP2, NOW_MRKUNFTYP2, NOW_NONMFTYP2, NOW_MILFTYP2

Starting with the 2018 CPS ASEC Bridge File and the 2019 CPS ASEC, the CPS ASEC file contains additional information on the type of insurance plan that was not available on earlier CPS ASEC files. For relevant insurance types in previous years, we released variables capturing whether a person’s insurance plan was an individual plan or a family plan. (These variables are GRPFTYP, DIRFTYP, MRKFTYP, MRKSFTYP, MRKUNFTYP, NONMFTYP, MILFTYP.) These variables will continue to be available but now we are able to release new measures that capture whether a person’s insurance plan was an individual plan, a self-plus-one plan, or a family plan. (These new variables are GRPFTYP2, DIRFTYP2, MRKFTYP2, MRKSFTYP2, MRKUNFTYP2, NONMFTYP2, MILFTYP2.)

In addition, there are current coverage counterparts of each variable, prefixed by NOW_. (NOW_GRPFTYP2, NOW_DIRFTYP2, NOW_MRKFTYP2, NOW_MRKSFTYP2, NOW_MRKUNFTYP2, NOW_NONMFTYP2, and NOW_MILFTYP2.)  While most health insurance coverage variables reflect coverage during the prior calendar year, these variables reflect insurance at the time of interview (conducted February through April.)

Offer and Take of Employer-Sponsored Insurance

ESIOFFER, ESICOULD, ESITAKE1-ESITAKE8, ESIELIG1- ESIELIG6

Starting with the 2019 CPS ASEC, the ESIOFFER variables (ESIOFFER, ESICOULD, ESITAKE1-ESITAKE8, ESIELIG1-ESIELIG6) provide information on the offer and take-up of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage for individuals who are employed but, at the time of interview, either do not have employer-sponsored coverage or have employer-sponsored coverage but are not the policyholder (i.e. covered through a family member’s employer-sponsored plan). Specifically, these variables indicate: 1) whether their employer offered coverage to any of its employees, 2) whether they were eligible for that coverage, if offered, 3) why they were ineligible, if offered and ineligible, and 4) why they chose to not take the coverage, if eligible.

The set of ESIOFFER variables contain the same information as the set of PEOFFER variables (PEOFFER, PECOULD, PETAKE1-PETAKE8, PEELIG1-PEELIG6) for a wider universe of people. The ESIOFFER variables include information for all employed individuals who do not currently receive employer-sponsored insurance or who do receive employer-sponsored coverage but are not the policyholder of the coverage plan, and documents if health insurance was offered through their employer. In contrast, the set of PEOFFER variables only includes offer and take-up information for employed individuals who are currently covered through employer-sponsored plans, but who are not the policyholder.

Some individuals may have different values for the set of PEOFFER variables and the set of ESIOFFER variables due to imputation of missing or incomplete data. For imputed values of ESIOFFER and downstream variables (those with allocation flags of hot deck, cold deck, logical imputation, or whole unit imputation) the values may differ for these variables due to a change in the donor pool used to impute values.

Note: The ESIOFFER variables are on the person file in the 2020 CPS ASEC and in a separate research extract in the 2019 CPS ASEC.