Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS)

The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA) through a contract with NORC at the University of Chicago, is the most comprehensive and complete survey available on the Medicare population. Since 1991, the MCBS has collected data on Medicare beneficiaries’ social and medical risk factors and the relationship between these factors, healthcare utilization, and health outcomes. These data, linked with Medicare enrollment data and claims, provide information not otherwise available through administrative data on the Medicare program and can be used to evaluate effectiveness of health care policy and policy interventions, both at specific points in time and longitudinally.

The MCBS releases three Limited Data Set (LDS) files annually. All research requests for limited access data require a Data Use Agreement (DUA) and can be requested through the process outlined here: Limited Data Set (LDS) Files. The MCBS also releases two Public Use File (PUF) versions of the LDS files. These files, as well as accompanying documentation, are free to download and available on the MCBS PUF page. For additional information on the differences between these types of files, please visit Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC).

MCBS Survey File - Early Release: $300 per year, 2023 available, 2024 available Summer 2025

The MCBS Survey File – Early Release LDS provides select microdata from the MCBS Survey File LDS on an expedited schedule. The data on demographics, health and chronic conditions, preventive health behaviors and other questionnaire topics collected during the Fall Round are made available within 8 months from the end of data collection for beneficiaries living in the community only. The MCBS Survey File – Early Release (LDS) can be ordered here: Limited Data Set (LDS) Files.

MCBS Survey File: $300 per year, 2015-2022 available, 2023 available Summer 2025

The MCBS Survey File contains over 6 thousand variables on a broad range of topics, including social determinants of health, economic outcomes, medication non-adherence, health insurance coverage and barriers to accessing care. The file is augmented with 5 years of enrollment data and, for beneficiaries enrolled in FFS Medicare, with 5 years of limited FFS claims. The MCBS Survey File (LDS) can be ordered here: Limited Data Set (LDS) Files.

In order to accommodate changes in sampling and data collection methodologies to allow for a more timely release of data starting with the 2015 MCBS, 2014 MCBS data were not released.

MCBS Cost Supplement File: $300 per year, 2015-2022 available, 2023 available Fall 2025

The Cost Supplement provides a comprehensive picture of beneficiaries’ health care use, expenditures, and sources of payment, including those not covered by Medicare. It contains both individual event and summary files and can be linked to the Survey File to conduct analyses on health care cost and utilization. The Cost Supplement File can support a broader range of research and policy analyses on the Medicare population than would be possible using either survey data or administrative claims data alone. The MCBS Cost Supplement File (LDS) can be ordered here: Limited Data Set (LDS) Files.

For data files 1991-2013 there are two data files from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) that were released in annual Access to Care and Cost and Use files, which can be obtained directly from CMS.

MCBS Access to Care:  $600 per year, 1991-2013 available

The Access to Care file contains information on beneficiaries' access to health care, satisfaction with care, and usual source of care. The Access to Care file also contains results from a supplement gauging beneficiaries' sources of information about Medicare and from a supplement surveying Medicare HMO members. To facilitate analysis, the information collected in the survey is augmented with data on the use and program cost of Medicare services from Medicare claims data under fee-for-service.

MCBS Cost and Use Files:  $600 per year, 1992-2013 available

The MCBS Cost and Use files link Medicare claims to survey-reported events and provides complete expenditure and source of payment data on all health care services, including those not covered by Medicare. Expenditure data were developed through a reconciliation process that combines information from survey respondents and Medicare administrative files. The process produces a comprehensive picture of health services received, amounts paid, and sources of payment. The file can support a broader range of research and policy analyses on the Medicare population than would be possible using either survey data or administrative claims data alone. Survey-reported data include information on the use and cost of all types of medical services, as well as information on supplementary health insurance, living arrangements, income, health status, and physical functioning. Medicare claims data includes use and cost information on inpatient hospitalizations, outpatient hospital care, physician services, home health care, durable medical equipment, skilled nursing home services, hospice care, and other medical services.

All research requests for limited access data require a Data Use Agreement (DUA) and can be requested through the process outlined here: Limited Data Set (LDS) Files.