Syntax for tobacco use on healthcare.gov API

Question

I am trying to use the healthcare.gov api for accessing plan data. The sample POST request includes the following syntax for encoding tobacco use:

   <p1:TobaccoLastUsedMonths>2</p1:TobaccoLastUsedMonths>

I don't understand what this means. Does this mean tobacco was last used two months ago? How would I indicate that tobacco was never used?

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 02 '17 at 15:02

Does this mean tobacco was last used two months ago?

Most likely, yes.

How would I indicate that tobacco was never used?

Since this element is optional (minOccurs="0") —

<xs:complexType name="EnrolleeType">
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="DateOfBirth" type="xs:date"/>
        <xs:element name="Gender" type="GenderType"/>
        <xs:element name="TobaccoLastUsedMonths" type="xs:int" minOccurs="0"/>
        <xs:element name="Relation" type="RelationType"/>
        <xs:element name="InHouseholdIndicator" type="xs:boolean"/>
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

— I suppose you shoud just skip this xs:element if tobacco was never used.

I have edited out your remarks about healthcar.gov, they are irrelevant to the question. Yes, it is confusing, especially since they do not put anything on their page explaining that they link here. The healthcare-finder-api tag info at least explains that. BTW The same confusion exists with the Department of Labor. See also my meta question. — , Jun 30 '17 at 11:27

Syntax for tobacco use on healthcare.gov API

1 Answers1