National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Round One

NOTICE

Errata: SF-8 Variables on Files Accessed Before January 2017

We incorrectly calculated the SF-8 mental component summary (MCS) and physical component summary (PCS) scores provided in the original National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) data files. The original values excluded an intercept constant needed to scale the scores to general population norms. The intercept constant values are -10.11675 for the MCS and -9.36839 for the PCS.

Because we did not apply the intercept constants, the scores provided in the original data files were too high relative to what they should be on the population-based scale. Thus, if comparing NBS respondents to the general population, NBS respondents would appear healthier than they should. However, within the NBS respondent sample, the scores still appropriately represented greater or lesser mental and physical health according to the design of the SF-8.

We have corrected the MCS and PCS variables included in the current data files so they are now valid for comparisons to other populations.

General NBS Round One Documentation
Public Use Files
        Public Use File Round One Documentation
        Public Use Round One Data Files

National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Round One

In 2004, we fielded the round-one NBS to two sub-samples: (1) the first national cross-sectional survey of all beneficiaries (the Representative Beneficiary Sample) and (2) the first cross-sectional survey of Ticket participants in the Phase 1 States (the Ticket Participant Sample). 

For round 1, we completed interviews with 6,520 individuals in the national sample of beneficiaries and 1,083 individuals in the sample of TTW participants, for a total of 7,603 interviews completed in both sub-samples. The weighted response rate for the national sample of beneficiaries was 77.5 percent. The weighted response rate for the TTW participant sample was 80.9 percent.

General NBS Round One Documentation

We are providing the following NBS documentation in PDF format (these documents relate to the full restricted use version of the NBS data, but most of the information in these files is applicable to the public use files as well):

NBS R1 Editing, Coding, Weighting, and Imputation.pdf
NBS R1 Data Editing Report.pdf
NBS R1 User's Guide.pdf
NBS R1 Questionnaire.pdf

Public Use Files

The public use files are only available for the Representative Beneficiary Samples for each round.  The Ticket Participant Samples are not available for public use.  For more information on the public use files, visit the public use files page.

Public Use Files Round One Documentation

We are providing the following NBS documentation in PDF format:
NBS R1 PUF Codebook.pdf

Public Use Round One Data Files (released September 2009; updated December 2016)

We are providing the following NBS data file in SAS 9.1 format:
r1puf093009.zip

We are providing the following NBS Data file in CSV format:
r1puf093009.CSV

We are providing the following NBS data file in Stata format:
nbsr1pufstata.zip