Description

For all persons in families with at least one private health insurance plan, HI1PUSEYR indicates, for the first plan mentioned, if anyone used the private plan in the past 12 months.

The 1989 Field Representative's Manual described medical care as "any services which the individual claims are covered under the health insurance plan held by that person," such as hospital bills, doctor, or surgeon bills, lab fees, or prescriptions or medicines.

Data Collection Process

Details about the characteristics of insurance plans (such as HI1PUSEYR) reflect plans for any family member in the household. In order to determine if the person (rather than someone else in the family) was covered by this plan, analysts should use the variable HI1PCOV (Health Insurance Plan 1: Person's Coverage Status), which indicates whether the person was covered by the plan. Information was collected on up to 5 plans.

In 1980 plans which paid extra cash for hospital stays were considered to be private health insurance, though single service plans were not considered to be health insurance. Private insurance referred to coverage for hospital, surgeon, or doctor's bills.
The definition, order and wording of private health insurance changed over time to reflect changes in the availability of different types of coverage and issues of interest. Users are strongly encouraged to review the user notes Insurance Data Collection and Private Insurance Definitions.

Comparability

There are no comparability issues.

Universe

Availability

• 1980

Weights

• 1980 : PERWEIGHT