Health Insurance Provisions Captured by the EBS and the NCS

Allan P. Blostin and Iris S. Díaz are economists in the Division of Compensation Data Analysis and Planning, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Telephone: (202) 606-6240 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Ensuring the reliability of health data and capturing the rapidly changing circumstances surrounding health care benefits requires the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to eliminate, revise, and expand the details of plan provisions that are surveyed. This article explores how the Employee Benefits Survey (EBS) has evolved into its present form in terms of its ability to provide useful data on the details of health insurance plans. It also explains why the health portion of the survey has undergone myriad changes since its inception in 1979, and what changes are envisioned for the future as the EBS is incorporated into the National Compensation Survey (NCS).