Description

For all persons eligible for the Access to Care section (ACCESSELIG) who reported not having a usual place for medical care (USUALPL) and provided a main reason why they do not have a usual place of care (WHYNOUSLPL), NOUSLYFAR indicates whether, in addition to the main reason they reported for why they have no usual source of care reported in WHYNOUSLPL, they also have no usual source of care because their usual source of medical care in this area is no longer available.

NOUSLYFAR is collected as part of the Access to Care section, which gathers information on usual source of care for all family members, characteristics of usual source of care health providers, and barriers family members have faced in obtaining needed health care. Please see USUALPL for all variables pertaining to why a person does not have a usual source of care and ACCESSELIG for more information about the Access to Care section.

IPUMS MEPS reports the universe for each variable based on a thorough review of the original MEPS documentation. Investigating the data may reveal cases that do not meet the stated universe. Users are encouraged to validate universes for their analyses.

Comparability

Users should note that the Access to Care variables are not designed to yield full-year estimates in 1997, as the section is only administered in Round 2 instead of Rounds 2 and 4. The 1997 AHRQ documentation advises that "The 1997 Access to Care variables cannot be used to make full-year estimates, but can be useful in such analyses as trend analyses, or for enhancing subgroup analyses. These variables may be of particular interest because of the 1997 oversample of populations (such as poverty, children with activity limitations, adults with functional limitations, high medical expenditure cases, and the elderly) where access issues are particularly relevant" (C-16). Because NOUSLYFAR is only collected in Round 2 in 1997 instead of Rounds 2 and 4, NOUSLYFAR cannot be used to make a full-year estimate in 1997. Otherwise, this variable is comparable over time.

Universe

Availability

• 1996-2017

Weights

• 1996-2017 : PERWEIGHT

Flags