Codes and Frequencies
Description
For persons who indicated they have a private insurance plan at the time of the survey, this variable indicates the person's first plan was paid for by the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Private insurance coverage that is paid for by SCHIP funds are known as "Premium assistance programs." These programs subsidize employer premiums, but the public cost is less than providing full coverage through public programs.
Information was collected on up to four plans per family; for 2004 forward, only data for the first and second plans are publicly available. Users may also want to see the variables HIP2CHIP, HIP3CHIP, and HIP4CHIP. In addition, the IPUMS NHIS has created a recoded variable which indicates if the respondent has any plan paid for by CHIP HIPCHIPR.
HIP1CHIP was edited for accuracy by the NCHS based on plan name. Only respondents verified to have private insurance are included in the data for HIP1CHIP. A full description of the editing that occurred is provided under the variable descriptions for HIPRIVATEE; a brief description is provided under the link "more" below.
To clarify, during the course of data editing, the NCHS discovered errors in the responses to questions about insurance coverage. This might be shown, for example, by a mismatch between the verbatim name of an insurance plan and the type of insurance coverage the person selected from the categories on the card. Relevant to HIP1CHIP, someone may have mistakenly reported having private insurance when in fact they in did not. These individuals are not included in the frequencies reported in HIP1CHIP.
Comparability
This variable is mostly comparable over time. Slight changes in the response categories of who paid for the plan occurred as new insurance programs became available. For all years, the categories of self or family (living in the household), employer or union, someone outside the household, Medicare, and Medicaid were available. The category of Children's Health Insurance Program was added to the survey in 1999 and this variable is completely comparable for 1999 forward. From 1998 forward, the category, "state or local government or community program" was used in place of the 1997 category of "government program."
Information was collected on up to four plans per family; for 2004 forward, only data for the first and second plans are publicly available. However, very few individuals have more than two plans. Persons with three or more plans have a "yes" response to the HIPRIVGT2 variable (available for 2004 forward).
Universe
- 1999-2013; 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018: All persons with a private health insurance plan.
Availability
- 1999-2018
Weights
- 1999-2018 : PERWEIGHT
