Description

For all persons, this variable indicates whether the person was covered by Medicaid or any other public assistance program at the time of the survey. Because state names for Medicaid programs vary, respondents were also provided the state name of the program.

Medicaid was generally defined as a public assistance program that pays for medical care. Respondents were then asked about coverage by any other public assistance program.

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.

For related variables, please use the IPUMS NHIS search function and drop-down menus.

Comparability

There are no comparability issues.

This variable is not comparable with the recoded variable HIMCAIDE, available for 1997 forward, 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 MCAOTHR with HIMCAIDE.

Users who want to use MCAOTHR with other years should see the variable HIPUBCOV.

Universe

Availability

• 1992

Weights

• 1992 : PERWEIGHT