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), NOUSLYOTH indicates whether, in addition to the main reason they have no usual source of care as reported in WHYNOUSLPL, they also have no usual source of care because of a reason than the other reasons mentioned.
Other reasons mentioned include:
- Doesn't need a doctor or hasn't had problems
- (NOUSLYNONEED)
- Recently moved to area (NOUSLYMOVE)
- Doesn't know where to go
- (NOUSLYDKWHER)
- No care available or too far away or not convenient
- (NOUSLYFAR)
- Speak a different language
- (NOUSLYLANG)
- Uses different places for different needs (NOUSLYDIFF)
- Insurance change (NOUSLYINCHG)
- Treats self (NOUSLYSELF)
- Medical care is too expensive (NOUSLYEXP)
- Does not have health insurance (NOUSLYNOINS)
- Reason related to insurance (NOUSLYINRSN)
- Reason related to job (NOUSLYJOB)
- Looking for new doctor (NOUSLYDR)
- Previous doctor is not available or moved (NOUSLYDRMOV)
- Doesn't like doctors (NOUSLYNOLIKE)
- Reason related to health
- (NOUSLYHLTH)
- Doctor is self, friend, or family member
- (NOUSLYFRFAM)
- Receive care at work
- (NOUSLYWORK)
- Refuse to go to doctor
- (NOUSLYREFDR)
- Reasons related to time and transportation
- (NOUSLYTRANS)
- Uses hospital/ER/clinic
- (NOUSLYER)
NOUSLYOTH 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.
Codes and Frequencies
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 NOUSLYOTH is only collected in Round 2 in 1997 instead of Rounds 2 and 4, NOUSLYOTH cannot be used to make a full-year estimate in 1997. Otherwise, this variable is comparable over time.
Universe
- 1996-2017: 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).
Availability
- 1996-2017
Weights
- 1996-2017 : PERWEIGHT
