Celebrating 25 years of continuous data collection and the completion of over 1 million interviews, the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a continuous, in-person, longitudinal survey of a representative national sample of the Medicare population. As the largest federal health survey of the Medicare population, the MCBS plays an essential role in monitoring and evaluating key aspects of the Medicare program and is the leading source of information on Medicare and its impact on beneficiaries.

The CMS Office of Minority Health supported the development of the MCBS Public Use File, as part of our activities to increase the availability of data to monitor the impact of CMS programs in improving minority health and eliminating health disparities.

The initial file was prepared from data collected in 2013 from over 13,000 community dwelling Medicare beneficiaries and contains standard demographic variables, such as age categories, race, ethnicity and gender, as well as information about health conditions, access to and satisfaction with care, type of insurance coverage, and information on utilization, including the number of fee-for-service claims per beneficiary for certain health care event types. The file was designed to explore issues related to health equity and health disparities.

Download the most recent MCBS PUF for free

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