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Recent efforts on the part of survey researchers to understand the characteristics and needs of homeless individuals have been hampered by factors which make it extra ordinarily difficult to draw representative samples of this population. To date, only one study (Rossi et al., 1987) has drawn a probability sample of homeless persons that includes unsheltered individuals. Because the design of the Rossi study can only accommodate a short interview and is best carried out in one night, additional designs that allow more lengthy interview protocols and data collection periods are needed. An effort to draw a probability sample of homeless adults in the inner-city area of Los Angeles resulted in a sampling design that meets these criteria. This article describes this design in detail.

Decisions about how inclusive one should be in attempting to sample and/or enumerate homeless populattons are best guided by information regarding what is sacrificed when different sampling choices are made. This article draws upon data from the Course of Homelessness Study to explore how three progressively less inclusive sampling frames affect understandings of the size and characteristics of homeless populations in two Los Angeles sites. Findings suggest that less inclusive sampling frames substantially affect populatton estimates, but do not consistently produce biased estimates of population characteristics. Whether, and the extent to which, such bias is introduced varies by site, by gender, and by the population characteristic in question.

The government often uses the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program as a model for both public and private health policy choices. In 2001, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) implemented full parity, requiring that FEHB carriers offer mental health and substance abuse benefits equal to general medical benefits. OPM instructed carriers to alter their benefit design but permitted them to determine whether they would manage care and what structures or processes they would use. This article reports on the experience of 156 carriers and the government-wide BlueCross and BlueShield Service Benefit Plan. Carriers dropped cost-restraining benefit limits. A smaller percentage also changed the management of the benefit, but these changes affected the care of many enrollees, making the overall parity effect noteworthy.