Survey of health services utilization and expenditures, 1963

This survey was conducted to ascertain the public's use of health services and expenditures made for these services. The survey was conducted by the Center for Health Administration Studies and the National Opinion Research Center, the University of Chicago. An understanding of trends in these areas was deemed essential to making policy decisions regarding Federal expenditures, standards and activities in the health care field. This study was conducted in early 1964 and was authorized in order to compare conditions with those found in similar studies done in 1953 and 1958. The survey consists of information gathered from 2,367 randomly-selected families consisting of 7,803 individuals. One or more members of each family provided information regarding health services, the costs of these services, and how the costs were met for the calendar year. Information on health attitudes and beliefs was also collected from the head of each household, or the spouse of the head of the household. Data for the study were also gathered from hospitals, employers, and insuring organizations concerning hospitalization and insurance coverage reported in the family interview, and those data were combined with the family reports.