Long, Stephen H., and M. Susan Marquis. ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION EMPLOYER HEALTH INSURANCE SURVEY [COMMUNITY TRACKING STUDY AND STATE INITIATIVES IN HEALTH CARE REFORM PROGRAM], 1997 [Computer file]. ICPSR02935-v2. Washington, DC: RAND Corporation [producer], 2000. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005-07-06.

Scope of Study

Summary:

The objectives of this study were to describe and understand employers' and employees' behavior with respect to employment-based health insurance, to track trends in health insurance provided by employers, and to evaluate selected policies to regulate or expand employment-based health insurance coverage. Sampling was designed to permit estimates for selected communities that are part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Community Tracking Study (CTS) and for selected states of interest to the RWJF State Initiatives in Health Care Reform Program. Data were collected on employers' offers of health insurance coverage, employees' eligibility and enrollment in health plans, and, for each plan offered, the plan type (HMO, POS, PPO, conventional), premiums (employer and employee contributions), benefits, cost-sharing, and employer self-insurance status. The study also collected information on the characteristics of employers and workers, including the number of employees at the establishment, the number of employees statewide and nationwide, and the distribution of workers by hours worked, age, sex, and earnings.

Subject Term(s):

communities, employee benefits, employees, employers, health insurance, Health Maintenance Organizations, insurance coverage, insurance policies, private health insurance

Geographic Coverage:

United States

Time Period:

1996 - 1997

Date(s) of Collection:

1996 - 1997

Universe:

In the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, all private business establishments except self-employed persons who had no employees, all state and substate governments with at least one employee, and all federal government employees.

Data Type:

survey data and administrative records data

Data Collection Notes:

(1) The data are comma-delimited for Parts 1 and 2, and blank-delimited for Part 3. (2) Parts 1-3 can be linked using common ID variables.

Methodology

Sample:

A national probability sample of private and public employers, with a specific emphasis on the 60 communities of the Community Tracking Study and 12 states with substantial rating reforms in the small group market. Samples of private employers were selected from the Dun's Market Identifiers file compiled by Dun and Bradstreet, stratified by 87 geographic locations and numerous business type and size classes. The 1987 and 1992 Census of Government files provided the frame for substate government employers. Data about state employees were obtained from each state government. Data about federal employees were obtained from a file of federal employees formed from information provided by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Office of Personnel Management.

Mode of Data Collection:

computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)

mail questionnaire

record abstracts

Access and Availability

Note:

A list of the data formats available for this study can be found in the summary of holdings. Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.

Restrictions:

This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, state and county identifiers, and variables Q5 (total number of locations in the United States), Q68AA (type of industry), and SAMPSTRT (sampling strata) are restricted from general dissemination. Recoded versions of Q5 and Q68AA with limited information are provided in the data. Variable SAMPSTRT is needed to produce accurate standard errors. To obtain the state and county identifiers, SAMPSTRT, and the original versions of Q5 and Q68AA, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement (link) in accordance with existing ICPSR servicing policies.

Original ICPSR Release:

2000-11-15

Version History:

The last update of this study occurred on 2005-07-06.

2006-03-30 - File CB02935AP.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2006-03-30 - File CB02935.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.

2005-07-06 - SPSS setup files for Parts 1 and 2 have been added to the collection and the SAS setup files have been enhanced.

2001-05-29 - Part 3, which contains state and county identifiers, has been added to the collection as a restricted file.

2001-04-12 - Descriptions of selected SAMPSTRT codes have been added to the documentation. These descriptions cover only the Community Tracking Study (CTS) strata and constitute a crosswalk between SAMPSTRT and the 60 CTS sites.

Dataset(s):

DS1: Firms Data
DS2: Plans Data
DS3: State and County Codes