MEPS Panel 13 Weight. The person-level weight for MEPS Panel 13 was developed using the 2008 full year weight for an individual as a “base” weight for survey participants present in 2008. For key, in-scope RU members who joined an RU some time in 2009 after being out-of-scope in 2008, the 2008 family weight associated with the family the person joined served as a “base” weight. The weighting process included an adjustment for nonresponse over Rounds 4 and 5 as well as raking to population control figures for December 2009. These control figures were derived by scaling back the population totals obtained from the March 2010 CPS to correspond to a national estimate for the civilian noninstitutionalized population provided by the Census Bureau for December 2009. Variables used in the establishment of person-level control figures included: census region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West); MSA status (MSA, non-MSA); race/ethnicity (Hispanic, black but non-Hispanic, Asian but non-Hispanic, and other); sex; and age. Xxx, responding persons not in-scope on December 31, 2009 but in-scope earlier in the year retained, as their final Panel 13 weight, the weight after the nonresponse adjustment.
MEPS Panel 13 Weight. The person-level weight for MEPS Panel 13 was developed using the MEPS Round 1 person- level weight as a “base” weight. For key, in-scope respondents who joined an RU after Round 1, the Round 1 family weight served as a “base” weight. The weighting process included an adjustment for nonresponse over Round 2 and the 2008 portion of Round 3 as well as raking to the same population control figures for December 2008 used for the MEPS Panel 12 weights. The same five variables employed for Panel 12 raking (census region, MSA status, race/ethnicity, sex, and age) were used for Panel 13 raking. Similarly, for Panel 13, key, responding persons not in-scope on December 31, 2008 but in-scope earlier in the year retained, as their final Panel 13 weight, the weight after the nonresponse adjustment. Note that the MEPS Round 1 weights incorporated the following components: the original household probability of selection for the NHIS; ratio-adjustment to NHIS-based national population estimates at the household (occupied dwelling unit) level; adjustment for nonresponse at the dwelling unit level for Round 1; and poststratification to figures at the family and person level obtained from the March CPS data base of the corresponding year (i.e., 2007 for Panel 12 and 2008 for Panel 13).
