MEPS-IC What's New

Stay up to date with new and updated content for the MEPS-IC Data Tools. The content listed below includes significant changes like new estimates and supporting PDFs in addition to changes to the MEPS-IC webpage content.

January 2023 Updates

The 2021 Estimate data is now included for all options for Public Sector and Civilian Establishments.

November 2022 Updates

The "MEPS-IC Complete Series as PDF Links" section now has 2021 Public Sector and Civilian PDFs.

August 2022 Updates

August 9th: Revised PDF tables for the 2021 IC Table Series I, II, IV, V, VI, and VII have been posted to the "MEPS-IC Complete Series as PDF Links" section. For details of affected tables visit https://www.meps.ahrq.gov/data_stats/ic_udnote.shtml. 

August 1st: The year 2021 Estimate data is now included for all options for the below subjects.  New Statistical Brief is available, Trends in Health Insurance at Private Employers, 2008-2021.

• Private Sector - National
• Private Sector - State
• Private Sector - Metropolitan Area

July 2022 Updates

The "MEPS-IC Complete Series as PDF Links" section now has 2021 Private Sector PDFs.

December 2021 Updates

The 2020 Estimate data is now included for all options for the below subjects. Check out the "MEPS-IC Complete Series as PDF Links" section for supporting PDFs.

• Public Sector
• Civilian Sector 

October 2021 Updates

The unprecedented pandemic and economic disruption in 2020 have caused uncertainty in some of the private-sector employment estimates, particularly with respect to the distribution of employment across firm sizes.

The issue is a concern because offers of health insurance are strongly correlated with firm size. Consequently, changes in employment may have affected differences in the estimated percentages of employees offered, and covered by, employer-sponsored health insurance between 2019 and 2020. They also affect estimates of totals by firm size (e.g., totals of establishments and employees). However, our initial investigations suggest that the vast majority of means and proportions estimated in the MEPS-IC data are not affected by this issue.

AHRQ is currently investigating several factors that may have influenced the 2020 MEPS-IC data. These factors include: (1) when firms of different sizes respond to the survey; (2) openings and closures of establishments during the survey period; and (3) the role of openings and closures in multi-establishment firms. AHRQ will provide more information on this site when these investigations are completed.

For information on changes to data collection in 2020 due to the pandemic, see Sample Design of the 2020 MEPS-IC.

For information on 2020 private-sector response, see MEPS-IC response rates

Ten New 2020 Estimates have been posted:

Visit the Private-Metropolitan Area "State and Metro Areas" for four new estimates - 

• Table IX.A.3:  Health insurance offer, eligibility and take up rates for private-sector establishments and employees for areas within States 2018-2020
• Table IX.A.4: Average total premiums and employee contributions (in dollars) for private-sector establishments for areas within States 2018-2020
• Table IX.A.5: Deductibles for private-sector employees for areas within States 2018-2020
• Table IX.A.6: Enrollment for private-sector employees for areas within States 2018-2020

Visit both the Private Sector - National "Employees" & Private Sector - State "Employees" for six new estimates - 

• Table I.B.2.e; Table II.B.2.e: Percent of private-sector employees in establishments that offer any dependent coverage for employer-sponsored health insurance by firm size and State
• Table I.B.2.f; Table II.B.2.f: Percent of private-sector employees in establishments that offer coverage to same-sex domestic partners for employer-sponsored health insurance by firm size and State
• Table I.B.2.g; Table II.B.2.g: Percent of private-sector employees in establishments that offer coverage to opposite-sex domestic partners for employer-sponsored health insurance by firm size and State

The year 2020 Estimate data is now included for all options for the below subjects. Check out the "MEPS-IC Complete Series as PDF Links" section for supporting PDFs.

• Private Sector - National 
• Private Sector - State
• Private - Metropolitan Area

Two new terms were added to the Glossary: Critical Illness Insurance; and ICHRA- Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangement.

Technical Notes section "VIII. Major Changes to the MEPS-IC Survey by Year" was updated for 2020.