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The Integrated Survey Design of the MEPS Insurance Component (MEPS-IC) Establishment Survey

Keywords: Survey integration, MEPS-IC, health surveys

The MEPS-IC is a nationally representative annual survey of over 40,000 business establishments and state/local governments. The survey is designed to produce estimates at the national and State level on the number and types of private health insurance plans offered, benefits, premiums, contributions by employers and employees, eligibility requirements, and employer characteristics. The survey is characterized by an integrated design, with the sample selected from the Business Register, a list of US establishments maintained by the Census Bureau. Use of the register as the MEPS-IC sampling frame permits the oversampling of establishments by location, size and industry and also serves as a poststratification source. Promoting data collection integration of surveys and administrative data is a core component of the HHS data strategy. This paper serves to further advance this strategy by demonstrating the capacity of this integrated survey design to enhance health policy related analyses based on statistical linkages to the MEPS household survey; expand analytic capability with linkage to other administrative data resources within the Census RDCs; and improve sample design research.