The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Insurance Component (MEPS-IC), also called the Health Insurance Cost Study, is conducted by the Census Bureau for the Department of Health and Human Services. It provides national and state level estimates on employer sponsored health insurance coverage. For private organizations, Title 13, United States Code, Section 8(b), and Section 913 of the Public Health Service Act (Title 42, United States Code, Section 299b-2(a)) authorize the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Health and Human Services to conduct this collection and to request your voluntary assistance. The U.S. Census Bureau is required by Title 13, United States Code, Section 9, to keep your information confidential and can use your responses only to produce statistics.

For government units, this study is conducted under the authority of Section 913 of the Public Health Service Act (Title 42, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section 299b-2). Sections 924c and 308d of that Act (42 U.S.C. Section 299c-3(c) and 42 U.S.C. Section 242m, respectively) ensure the confidentiality of your responses will be maintained. It may be seen only by individuals sworn to uphold U.S. Census Bureau confidentiality and may be used only for statistical purposes.

To complete this survey online:

1. Register or sign in at https://portal.census.gov
2. Add your authentication code.
3. Click on “REPORT NOW” to start the survey.  You can return to your account over multiple sessions to complete.
4. For assistance completing this survey, please log-in to your Census Bureau account at https://portal.census.gov and send us a secure message or call the customer help line at 1-888-273-3878, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
   
5. Please visit How Do I Get Started? for additional information.

To help you prepare for online reporting, click on the appropriate forms and instructions below.

(All forms are in Adobe PDF file format and are for informational purposes only)

Below are a few common items you can use to verify the legitimacy of this survey:

1. Ensure the Web address provided in the letter is a "census.gov" domain.
2. Correspondence will contain reporting instructions and a toll-free number for survey assistance.
3. On the log-in screen, a warning message should be present stating the respondent is accessing a U.S. Government computer.
4. After clicking on the “Report Now” button in the Respondent Portal, the OMB Number and OMB Approval Expiration information will appear in the upper right of the first screen of the electronic reporting instrument.  The bottom of the screen should have a link for the “Burden Statement” which also contains the OMB eight-digit number.