Codes

This variable is not available for any of the currently selected samples.

Description

PHISPOUS indicates whether the "private" (i.e., employment-based or privately-purchased, not governmental) insurance plan held in the name of an adult household member covered the co-resident spouse of that policyholder, during the previous calendar year. The information for PHISPOUS is included on the person record of the insurance policyholder, not on the person record of the spouse.

The data for PHISPOUS were collected via a series of questions. First, persons were asked whether they were covered by private insurance during the previous calendar year (see PHINSUR) and, if yes, whether such insurance coverage was in the respondent's own name (see PHIOWN). If the answer to the second question was also yes, the policyholder was asked about other people covered by this same private insurance policy. PHISPOUS identifies cases in which policyholders of private insurance plans reported that their spouses were covered by their private (i.e., nongovernmental) insurance plans.

Whether the "private" health insurance plan held in the name of an adult household member covered other dependents of that policyholder is specified in similar variables.
PHIHHKID indicates whether children in the household were covered by the policy; PHINHKID indicates whether children living outside the household were covered by the policy; and PHIOTHR indicates whether other persons were covered by the policy. If only the policyholder was covered, that policyholder received a code of "Yes" in PHISELF.

PHISPOUS and the related variables PHIHHKID, PHINHKID, PHIOTHR, and PHISELF may be of interest to researchers studying who had insurance coverage of a particular type. The primary reason for collecting these data, however, was to allow the Census Bureau to allocate insurance coverage to dependents as well as policyholders in the COVERPI and COVERGH variables.

Comparability

User Note: For a set of variables that addresses many of the comparability issues in the CPS health insurance measures, see the summary health insurance variables created by the University of Minnesota's State Health Access Data Assistance Center.

This variable is comparable over time.

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables

• UH_WHOHI1_A1