Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Proposed Project

1999-2001 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey--Insurance Component (MEPS- IC).

The MEPS-IC, an annual survey of the characteristics of employer- sponsored health insurance, was first conducted by AHCPR in 1997, seeking data pertaining to the calendar year 1996. The survey has since been conducted annually for calendar years 1997 and 1998. AHCPR proposes to continue this annual survey of establishments for calendar years 1999 through 2001. The survey data for calendar year 1999 will be collected in 2000. Likewise, calendar year 2000 data will be collected in 2001 and calendar year 2001 data in 2002. The survey will collect information from both public and private employers. This survey will be conducted for AHCPR by the Bureau of the Census using a sample comprised of: 1. Employers selected from Census Bureau lists of private sector employers and government employers (known as the List Sample); and 2. Employers identified by respondents to the MEPS-Household Component (MEPS-HC) for the same calendar year (known as the Household Sample). The MEPS-HC is an annual household survey designed to collect information concerning health care expenditures and related data for individuals. Data to be collected from each employer will include a description of the business (e.g., size, industry) and descriptions of health insurance plans available, plan enrollments, total plan costs and costs to employees.

Data Confidentiality Provisions

MEPS-IC List Sample data confidentiality is protected under section 9 of Title 13, United States Code (the U.S. Census Bureau statute). MEPS-IC Household Sample data confidentiality is protected under sections 308(d) and 903(c) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242m and 42 U.S.C. 299a-1). Section 308(d), the confidentiality statute of the National Center for Health Statistics, is applicable because the MEPS-HC sample is derived from respondents of an earlier NCHS survey. Section 903(c) is the confidentiality statute of AHCPR. All data products listed below must fully comply with the data confidentiality statute under which the raw data was collected.

Data Products

Data will be produced in three forms: (1) Files derived from the Household

Sample, which can be linked back to other information from household respondents in the MEPS-HC; (2) files containing employer information from the List Sample (available for use by researchers at the Census Bureau's Research Data Centers); and (3) a large compendium of tables of estimates based on the List Sample (available on the AHCPR website). These tables will contain descriptive statistics, such as, numbers of establishments offering health insurance, average premiums, average contributions, total enrollments, numbers of self insured establishments and other related statistics for a large number of population subsets defined by firm size, state, industry and establishment characteristics, such as, age, profit/nonprofit status and union/nonunion. The data are intended to be used for purposes such as: • Generating national and State estimates of employer health care offerings; • Producing estimates to support the Bureau of Economic Analysis within the Department of Commerce and the Health Care Financing Administration in their respective calculations of health care expenditures for the Gross Domestic Product and National Health Accounts (annual totals for various categories of health care expenditures for the United States); • Producing national and State estimates of spending on employer-sponsored health insurance to study the results of national and State health care policies; • Supplying data for modeling the demand for health insurance; and • Providing data on health plan choices, costs, and benefits that can be linked back to households' use of health care resources as were reported in the MEPS-HC survey for studies of the consumer health care selection process. These data will provide the basis for researchers to address important questions for the benefit of employers and policymakers alike.

Method of Collection

The data will be collected using a combination of modes. the Census Bureau's first contact with employers will be made by telephone. This contact will provide information on the availability of health insurance from that employer and essential persons to contact. Based upon this information, Census will mail a questionnaire to the employer. In order to assure high response rates, Census will follow-up with a second mailing at an acceptable interval, followed by a telephone call to collect data from those who have not responded by mail. For large organizational respondents with high burdens, such as State employers and very large firms, Census will, if needed, perform personal visits and do customized collection, such as, acceptance of data in computerized formats and use of special forms.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Estimated time Estimated total Estimated Annual number of respondents per respondent annual burden annual cost to (in hours) hours the Government ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33,839....................................................... .5 19,369 $7,000,000 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimates of annual respondent burden are based upon experience from collection of the previous three MEPS-IC surveys.

Dated: October 1, 1999. John M. Eisenberg, Administrator. [FR Doc. 99-26597 Filed 10-12-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4160-90-M