Description

For persons with a private health insurance plan who must select from a group or list of doctors (HIP1MDPIC = "2"), this variable indicates if the plan will pay for any part of the cost if the respondent selects a doctor who is not in the plan. For all years, persons with single service insurance plans (such as those which paid only for accidents) were not asked this question.

For 1993-1996, details about the characteristics of insurance plans (such as HIP1MDOP) 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.

For 1997 forward, responses for respondents who mistakenly indicated their private coverage status were edited by the NCHS. 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 a list of categories on a card. The frequencies provided in HIP1MDOP reflect responses in which private insurance was verified though editing on plan names. Users are strongly encouraged to refer to HIPRIVATEE for more information.

Information was collected on up to four plans per family; for 2004 forward, only data for plans one and two are publicly available. Users may also want to see HIP2MDOP, HIP3MDOP and HIP4MDOP.

In addition, the IPUMS NHIS created the variable HIPMDOPR, which indicates if the person had any plan that will pay for any part of the cost of a doctor who is not in the plan's preferred list of providers.

Comparability

For all years, respondents who answered the question for HIP1MDOP had private health insurance excluding single service plans, or plans that paid for only type of service. While the definition of private health insurance included single service for 1993 to 1996, those with such plans did not receive the question for HIP1MDOP.

This variable is completely comparable for 1998 forward and is completely comparable for 1993 to 1996. Because of the editing process that occurred from 1998 forward that verified the accuracy of report for private insurance coverage, users may want to avoid comparing the surveys for prior to 1997 with those that came after. See HIPRIVATEE for more details on the recoding.

Universe

Availability

• 1993-1996, 1998-2018

Weights

• 1994-1996, 1998-2018 : PERWEIGHT
• 1993 : SAMPWEIGHT