Form MEPS – IC MEPS – IC Medical Expenditure Panel Survey – Insurance Component (

Pretest for MEPS-IC Establishments Offering Multiple Plans Protocol

Sample criteria:

• Include large employers who responded to the 2016 MEPS-IC.

• Include a sufficient number of cases to result in 50 completed interviews (approximately 35 privates and 15 governments).

• Include enterprises with 50 or more employees for privates and 250 or more employees for governments.

• Include cases that offered insurance (C001=1) with 4 or more health insurance plan choices (C003>=4). Each case should have positive non-missing values for each wage category (C022, C023, C024, C726).

• To reduce burden, exclude cases that were selected for the 2016 Longitudinal survey or that were contacted during problem resolution /CATI TFU.

Introduction to the interview:

• Introduce self, purpose of call, and thank them for responding to 2016 MEPS-IC.

• Our records show that you are the person who responded to the survey. Confirm.

• We are asking a few follow-up questions of companies that offered multiple insurance plans.

• Do you have a few minutes to answer some follow-up questions?

• This interview will take 15 to 20 minutes, and you probably won’t need to look up any information. Your participation is voluntary and your data will be kept confidential.

• If you have an easily accessible copy of your completed form, you can reference it during our conversation. If not, you can see a copy of the survey form you responded to online at this web address: https://bhs.econ.census.gov/bhs/meps/form.html (use drop down box to select 10(s) or 10 for privates and the 11(s) or 11 for governments.)

• [In the script below, ‘R’ stands for ‘Respondent’.]

Questions:

We would like you to answer a few questions, which we are interested in adding to future versions of the MEPS form. In addition, we would like to get your input on the questions themselves; we are interested in knowing how you understand the questions, and if you are able to answer them.

We will be asking you these questions for each of the health insurance plans that you said you offer on your recent MEPS submission.

We’ll start with the first few questions, which refer to [INSURANCE PLAN #1 FROM MEPS SUBMISSION].

The first question is:

1. Are all employees eligible for this plan?

Note for interviewers: Do not read the skip pattern answers to the respondent.

1. Yes [if yes, Skip to question 3]

2. No [if no, Continue with question 2.]

3. Don’t know [if don’t know, Skip to question 3]

Thank you for your answer. Now, we have a few follow-up questions for you, regarding that question.

• What does the term “eligible” mean to you, in your own words?

• [If respondent said Yes/No] If you were receiving this question on the actual survey, would you need to consult with your records to answer this question accurately?

  • If yes, what types of records would you need to access? About how long would that take?

• [If respondent said Don’t Know] If you were receiving this question on the actual survey, would you be able to find the answer to this question by accessing your records?

  • If R says yes to this probe: what types of records would you need to access? About how long would that take?

  • If R says no to this probe: Is there any where within your company that this information is kept? Where? Would you have to work with others? Where are they located within the organization (position not geography)?

Thank you for your feedback, that was very helpful. Now, let’s move to the next question.

2. Which employees were eligible for the plan, and which employees were not eligible? _______________(open-ended)

Note for interviewers: If necessary, probe respondent ‘Did eligibility vary by employee’s salary, type of position, union status or any other factor?’

• How did you determine your answer to this question?

• Would you need to access any records to answer this question? Would you need to work with any others to answer this question?

• If we had a list of options to choose from, what options would you include? Would you prefer having this question open-ended, as we currently have it, or would you prefer having a list of options to choose from?

Thank you again, let’s move on to the next question.

3. Did the amount an EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTED toward his/her own coverage for this plan vary by wage or salary levels? (C643)

   1. Yes

   2. No

   3. Don’t know

• What is this question asking you, in your own words?

• Would you need to access any records to answer this question? Would you need to work with any others to answer this question?

• [If respondent said Don’t Know] If you were receiving this question on the actual survey, would you be able to find the answer to this question by accessing your records?

  • If R says yes to this probe: what types of records would you need to access? About how long would that take?

  • If R says no to this probe: Is there any where within your company that this information is kept? Where? Would you have to work with others? Where are they located within the organization (position not geography)?

Thank you for your feedback so far, this has been really helpful. We would now like to go over the same few questions, but in regards to [INSURANCE PLAN #2, 3, 4 ETC. FROM MEPS SUBMISSION. CONTINUE FOR ALL PLANS.]

When done with all Insurance Plans covered on the MEPS submission, move on to Section B.

Section B:

Now let’s move on to our final questions. Unlike the previous questions, these pertain to your organization as a whole, and not to any specific insurance plan.

Our first question is:

Note for interviewers: Do not read the skip pattern answers to the respondent.

1. Does your organization offer employee-plus-2 or employee-plus-3 coverage? An example of employee-plus-2 coverage would be employee plus 2 children or employee plus spouse plus child.

   1. Yes [if yes, continue to Question 2]

   2. No [if no, end of interview]

   3. Don’t know [if don’t know, end of interview]

• What is this question asking, in your own words?

• [If respondent said Yes] – what exactly does your organization offer?

• In your own words, what does employee-plus-2 mean?

• In your own words, what does employee-plus-3 mean?

• Are you familiar with the concept of employee-plus-2 and employee-plus-3 coverage?

• Do you use any other terms to refer to this type of coverage?

• Would you need to consult your records to answer this question?

• What records would you need to look through?

• Would you need to consult with anyone else in your organization to answer this question? Who (position)?

• [If respondent said No] – has your organization ever offered this type of coverage in the past? If so, why isn’t this coverage currently offered?

IF R SAID NO OR DON’T KNOW TO THE PREVIOUS QUESTION: That is the end of our questions for you today. Before we let you go, did you have any questions or comments for us?

Thank you so much for your time!

IF R SAID YES TO THE PREVIOUS QUESTION: Thank you again, and we just have one final question we’d like your feedback on.

2. What other forms of dependent coverage, if any, are available to employees?

–Can you tell me a little bit about those types of coverage?

Completion of Interview

That’s all the questions I have for you today. Thank you very much for your time and contribution to our data collection. Do you have any questions or comments for us?

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