. The people involved are vulnerable and exposed to danger at any time."

Indeed, Iraqis have made the same complaints about U.S. military forces and Western private security details. The 4th Brigade's troops are under orders not to disrupt traffic unless absolutely necessary, but sometimes American convoys still push through the streets in an effort to avoid car bombers, roadside bombs and sniper fire.

Ahmad Karrar, 26, a traffic policeman in Karrada, said Iraqis would have to put up with the convoys. "There are many who are always buzzing by, every day," he said. "But we must accept this until we have stability and peace in this country."

But Mohammad Ali Akbar, 45, who owns a small stall on Karrada Street, said it was dangerous to allow the private details toand place and type of services received. In addition to Medicare data, date of death information from the Master Beneficiary Record of the Social Security Administration (SSA) was also used.

This initial analysis deals with the first stage of a 5-year data augmentation (1984-88) pertaining to Medicare services utilization and charges incurred by NBS respondents. In addition to the study of health outcomes, enhancement of NBS with SSA and Medicare administrative data makes possible an assessment of effectiveness of self-reported health and functional status as indicators of subsequent health service utilization and survival. The resulting linked longitudinal data bases essentially represent a historical prospective design which should provide a useful analytic tool for following the life course of respective cohorts of beneficiaries, including retired and disabled workers, as they