Description

For persons in families with at least four private health insurance plans, HI4TYPR1 is a recoded variable, which indicates the type of the fourth insurance plan mentioned. Respondents were asked for the plan name, and the NCHS matched the name against a master list of health care plans. HI4TYPR1 recodes plans into some form of health maintenance organization (HMO) or individual practice association (IPA) plan (including group HMO, staff HMO, mixed HMO, and other HMO), a fee-for-service plan (Blue Cross/Blue Shield or other), a single service plan, a preferred provider organization (PPO), a network plan, or some other type of plan.

The definition of HMO did not change for the years HI4TYPR1 is available. HMOs and IPAs were defined as plans whose members are generally required to use only those health care providers within the health care organization, and usually, members do not have to submit claims for costs of medical care services.

Details about the characteristics of insurance plans (such as HI4TYPR1) 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 HI4PCOV (Health Insurance Plan 4: Person's Coverage Status), which indicates whether the person was covered by the plan.

Information was collected on the details of up to four plans per family for 1993 to 1995.

Users may also want to see the variable HIPTYPER, created by IPUMS NHIS staff, which indicates whether a person had any plan that is an HMO.

Related variables

Please use the IHIS drop-down menus and search function for other related variables.

Definition of Private Coverage

Private insurance was defined as insurance that pays any part of a hospital, doctor's, surgeon's, or dentist's bill, except plans which pay only for accidents. For 1993 to 1995, single service plans were considered a form of health insurance.

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

This variable is comparable over time.

Universe

Availability

• 1993-1995

Weights

• 1994-1995 : PERWEIGHT
• 1993 : SAMPWEIGHT