Abstract
The analytic capacity of surveys can be dramatically enhanced through the linkage to existing secondary data sources at higher levels of aggregation as well as through direct matches to additional health and socio-economic measures acquired for the same set of sample units from other sources of survey specific or administrative data. In this paper, the capacity of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to enhance longitudinal analyses focused on mortality studies is discussed. The first set of analyses examines the differentials in pre-dispositional factors that distinguish a representative group of decedents from their surviving counterparts. This is followed by a more extensive model-based study to assess the relationship between antecedent health and health care related factors and mortality. The relationship between medical expenditure levels over time and mortality is also examined to illustrate the enhanced set of longitudinal analyses that are possible through this framework. These longitudinal analyses are based on linkages of the MEPS to the National Health Interview Survey and the National Death Index.