Abstract
The MEPS household component was designed to produce national and regional estimates of the health care utilization, expenditures, sources of payment and insurance coverage of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population for calendar year 1996. In this paper, the characteristics of the households that did not respond to the first round of data collection for the 1996 MEPS are identified and contrasted with those that participated in the survey. As a consequence of the 1996 MEPS sample linkage to the 1995 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), detailed information on the socio-demographic and health characteristics of both responding and nonresponding households was available to inform the investigation. The results of this study informed the adjustments implemented to correct for survey nonresponse. The paper also includes a presentation of the household level nonresponse adjustment estimation strategy that was implemented to improve the accuracy of MEPS survey estimates. Implications of study findings on strategies for reducing the overall level of survey nonresponse and for better targeting interviewer efforts are also discussed.
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