Description
For all persons, RXEXPOPU captures the sum of direct payments made during the year by another public source for prescribed medications. Payments for over-the-counter drugs and indirect payments not related to specific medical events, such as Medicaid Disproportionate Share and Medicare Direct Medical Education subsidies, are not included in this amount.
AHRQ staff advise users to exercise caution when interpreting the expenditures recorded in RXEXPOPU. While these payments stem from apparent inconsistent responses to the health insurance and source of payment questions in the survey, some of these inconsistencies may have logical explanations. For example, some of the "other public" payments may stem from confusion between Medicaid and other state and local programs or may be for persons who were not enrolled in Medicaid, but were presumed eligible by a provider who ultimately received payments from the program. For more information on how MEPS collects information about prescription medications, please refer to our user note on Collection of Information about Prescription Medications.
Related variables
Variables related to total annual prescription medication expenditures by source of payment are also available. Please refer to our user note on expenditures for a list of these variables.
