Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Family Health Insurance Survey, 1993

This survey investigated health insurance coverage, as well as access to and use of health services, in each of ten states. With the goal of remedying the previous lack of state-level data, the survey was conducted to aid in defining problems of insurance coverage and to analyze the impacts of states' policy options. The main unit of observation is the health insurance family, which includes the head, spouse, and their children up to age 18, or to age 23 if they were in school. Variables on health insurance coverage include the types of coverage respondents carried (Medicare, Medicaid, additional state or federal programs, and private policies), sources of private policy coverage, premiums paid for private policies, and number of months uninsured during the last year. Access to health care is measured by variables such as the type of usual health care provider, the amount of time it usually took to get to the doctor's office, and whether needed medical care was not received during the previous year. Variables on the utilization of health care include the number of overnight hospital stays, the number of visits to doctors, age at first DPT (diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus) shot, age at first oral polio immunization, and the number of months since the most recent breast exam and Pap smear. The survey also elicited self-reported health status and opinions on the health care system, gauged satisfaction/dissatisfaction with health services received, and gathered information on employment, income, education, migration, age, sex, marital status, race, Hispanic origin, and citizenship.