What exactly does a zero count mean in the MEPS variable builder? I have specific conditions I am looking to meet and only interested in one form of payment. I would assume an event that does not meet my criteria would be excluded, so I am confused how there could be a zero count?
The MEPS variable builder creates an additional variable for each person in the sample that summarizes the number of events or total expenditures based on the selection criteria that you use. For example, it can give you the number of dental visits and the amount a respondent spent out of pocket for dental visits for a specified time period (months, interview rounds, or over a year). Records with a 0 for the created variable identify people who had no visits or expenditures based on your criteria. The tool does not drop observations based on the specified conditions or payment methods.
Note that there are a number of cases where you may obtain a zero for the number of events or the expenditure amount even when there are events/expenditures that satisfy your criteria (see the variable builder instructions page. For example, payments from other public sources (EVEXPOPU) and other private sources (EVEXPOPR) were discontinued after 2018. If these variable filters are selected for the construction of a variable using Add Up Expenditures operation, they will be treated as $0 expenditures in 2019 and later years. If they are selected for the construction of a variable using the Count operation, a value of 0 will be returned. Additionally, events with the Other Medical Expenses event type do not have an associated calendar month value (represented as an “NIU” value selection under the “Calendar Month” section in the variable builder). Any specific month selections other than NIU will result in the exclusion of Other Medical Expense event type records, even if Other Medical Expenses are selected under the “Event Type” menu.
Additionally, you may get zeros when filtering your criteria too narrowly. While the variable builder interprets selections within the same category (or tab) as “OR” selections (e.g., including payments using Medicare or Medicaid), the variable builder interprets selections across different categories (or tabs) as “AND” selections (e.g., including only payments for a selected condition that also used Medicare or Medicaid).
If you’re interest looking to filter your dataset to events that satisfy your criteria, you will need to download a hierarchical data extract that includes the condition identifier (i.e., ICD10CODE) and the payment identifier (EVEXPSRC). You will then need to link the condition record to the event record (see this user note for details) to drop events that do not satisfy your criteria.