DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06169.v1
title: National Medical Expenditure Survey, 1987: Survey of American Indians and Alaska Natives, Preliminary Health Status Questionnaires and Access to Care Supplement [Public Use Tape 21P]
title: Version 1

description: The National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES) series 
 provides information on health expenditures by or on behalf of families 
 and individuals, the financing of these expenditures, and each person's 
 use of services. The Survey of American Indians and Alaska Natives 
 (SAIAN) was designed in collaboration with the Indian Health Service 
 (IHS), and used the same data collection instruments, interview 
 procedures, and time frame as the NMES Household Survey component. 
 However, the SAIAN differed from the Household Survey in several 
 respects. The SAIAN sample was interviewed only three times and was not 
 given the supplements on long-term care, caregiving, and 
 care-receiving. Also, SAIAN respondents were asked additional questions 
 on topics such as use of IHS facilities and traditional medicine, and 
 were given a modified self-administered questionnaire with separate 
 versions for adults and children. Interviewers for the SAIAN were 
 mainly American Indians or Alaska Natives, and about 20 percent of the 
 interviews were not conducted entirely in English. Of these, 
 approximately 40 percent were conducted entirely in the native language 
 of the respondent. Public Use Tape 21P includes variables on 
 demographic characteristics (age, race, sex), medical conditions, 
 illnesses, limitations on activities, vaccinations, type of medical 
facility and doctors, and native language.
description: The sample is a stratified area probability design with 
 three stages of sample selection: (1) selection of primary sampling 
 units (PSUs), which are counties or groups of contiguous counties (in 
 Alaska, the county equivalents developed by the state of Alaska and the 
 Census Bureau for statistical purposes were employed), (2) selection of 
 segments within PSUs, (3) selection and screening of dwelling units 
 within segments. Based on the results of the screening, all dwelling 
 units including persons eligible for IHS services were selected in the 
 SAIAN. The sample frame included all counties in the United States 
 including or adjacent to reservations of federally-recognized tribes or 
 Alaska Native villages. For cost considerations, the sample frame was 
 truncated to remove counties with the lowest concentrations of eligible 
 persons, and disproportionate sampling was applied to remaining 
counties with low concentrations of American Indians.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Main Data File
DS2: Technical and Programming Information and Data Dictionary
DS3: SAS Control Cards
description: The population of American Indians and Alaska Natives 
 living on or near reservations and eligible for health care services 
from or sponsored by the Indian Health Service.
description: The principal investigator notes that the data in 
 Public Use Tape 21P are preliminary in nature and released prior to 
 final cleaning and editing, in order to provide access to information 
 from the SAIAN. Records in these files can be linked to other public 
 use sets from the SAIAN using the person identifier (PIDX). For user 
 convenience the file also contains, for each person, basic demographic 
 characteristics as established in the SAIAN. These demographic data 
 replace data items previously released in NATIONAL MEDICAL EXPENDITURE 
 SURVEY, 1987: SURVEY OF AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES, ROUND 1 
 PERSON-LEVEL FILE [PUBLIC USE TAPE 11] (ICPSR 9689). This collection is 
 superseded by NATIONAL MEDICAL EXPENDITURE SURVEY, 1987: SURVEY OF 
 AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES, POPULATION DATA, DATA FROM THE 
 HEALTH STATUS QUESTIONNAIRE AND ACCESS TO CARE SUPPLEMENT, AND 
 EXPENDITURES AND SOURCES OF PAYMENT DATA [PUBLIC USE TAPE 37] (ICPSR 
6490).