Description

For persons who had a Medicaid card at the time of the interview (MCANOW), this variable indicates the expiration day on the card. Users can combine the day with MCAEXPMO, which provides the month of expiration to obtain information on when the card expired.

For 1993 and 1994, persons who answered affirmatively to a question on Medicaid coverage in the previous month (MCAMONTH) were considered to be covered by Medicaid.

Medicaid pays for medical assistance to low-income families with dependent children and to aged, blind, or permanently and totally disabled individuals with incomes insufficient to meet the costs of medical services. Because state names for Medicaid programs vary, respondents were also asked about coverage under the state program name.

Comparability

Apart from changes in the universe, there are no comparability issues. Changes in survey design (e.g., quarters in which the supplement was collected) may affect raw frequencies, but do not affect comparability of the variable. As always, data users should use the prescribed IPUMS NHIS weights.

This variable is not comparable with the recoded variable HIMCAIDE, which reflects responses edited for accuracy by the NCHS. During the course of data editing, the NCHS discovered many 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. Users should not combine MCAEXPDAY with HIMCAIDE.

Universe

Availability

• 1993-1994

Weights

• 1994 : PERWEIGHT
• 1993 : SAMPWEIGHT