New Web-based Tool Provides State-By-State Insurance Data

Research Alert: May 3, 2001

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announces the availability of MEPSnet/IC, a new, interactive tool that provides quick and easy access to employer-based health insurance data from AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Web site at http://www.meps.ahrq.gov (click on MEPSnet Analytical Tools). MEPSnet/IC uses data from the MEPS Health Insurance Component (IC), and is the first of several analytical tools being developed for quick access to MEPS data.

MEPSnet/IC gives users access to national and state level statistics and trends about health insurance offered by private establishments and state and local governments, including cost of coverage. The interactive tool guides users step-by-step through a set of questions leading to the specific data of interest. Once all the questions are answered, MEPSnet/IC analyzes data from all available years—currently 1996, 1997, and 1998—and generates a graph showing the estimates for each year. It also provides a direct link to the underlying tables from which these statistics are generated.

As additional years of data become available from the Health Insurance Component survey, they will be added to the system, allowing MEPSnet/IC users to examine longer trends in health insurance data.

MEPS is a nationally representative survey of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the United States and nursing home residents, collecting detailed information on their health status, access to care, health care use and expenses, and health insurance coverage, at different intervals and over time.

For more information about MEPSnet/IC, send an E-mail to James Branscome at JBransco@ahrq.gov.

For more information, please contact AHRQ Public Affairs, (301) 427-1364: Karen Carp, (301) 427-1858 (KCarp@ahrp.gov).

---

Internet Citation:

New Web-based Tool Provides State-By-State Insurance Data. Research Alert, May 3, 2001. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2001/mepsnetpr.htm

---