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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jun 6.
Published in final edited form as: J Econ Soc Meas. 2015 Aug 18;40(1-4):341–356. doi: 10.3233/JEM-150408

Table 5.

Some smaller fixes that would improve the usefulness of national surveys for questions related to health economics and policy

Survey Proposed change
ACS, CPS, SIPP, MEPS, NHIS, NHANES, BRFSS Link to administrative data:

  • Medicare and Medicaid claims

  • Health insurance exchange data

  • Social Security records

  • Food Stamps

  • TANF benefits
HRS, PSID Link to health insurance data, Food Stamps, TANF
All but PSID Add measures of consumption/expenditures
All but HRS and PSID Add measures of wealth
ACS Add self-reported health status
SIPP, MEPS Follow splitoff households
SIPP Adopt overlapping panel design
NHIS, NHANES, HRS Include state on public use file; expand sample if necessary
BRFSS Ask about source of health insurance (e.g. ACS question)

Note: Surveys considered in this table include ACS, CPS, SIPP, MEPS, NHIS, NHANES, BRFSS, PSID, NLS, HRS, and Add Health.