Group Health Plan Research File

This document is about a user guide for the 2010 Form 5500 Group Health Plans Research File, which is an edited dataset consisting of all employer-sponsored private-sector welfare plans that are required to file a Form 5500 Annual Return/Report and indicate that the plan offered a health benefit to the covered participants. The guide provides details on the selection of plans, determining plan funding, editing processes, and variables generated for the research file. It explains how the data is used to analyze the group health plans market and underlie the Group Health Plans Report published by the Department of Labor.