These files support the running of the Future Elderly Model (FEM), a microsimulation developed and maintained by the Roybal Center for Health Policy Simulation within the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Southern California. Because of the complexity of the simulation, support for these files outside a collaboration will not be provided.  For more information or interest in collaboration, please refer to the FEM website: http://roybal.healthpolicy.usc.edu/projects/fem.html

The FEM was conceived at the RAND Corporation in 1997. It was designed as a tool to help policy analysts and private firms understand future trends in health, health spending, medical technology, and longevity. It is an economic-demographic microsimulation developed over the last decade with funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Labor, and the MacArthur Foundation. This work has resulted in more than 15 published papers, including two special issues of Health Affairs devoted to findings from the model. Papers using the model won the 2009 Eugene Garfield Prize from Research!America for contributions to the understanding of the economic impact of medical research.
 
NOTE: These files do not contain any restricted HRS data.  They are solely based on public use files.