Stimulate Health Insurance Demand and Pricing Under ACA

To inform federal and state policy decisions, ASPE is seeking to continue its work with RAND to enhance its capacity for simulation of specific health reform provisions such as the establishment of new health insurance exchanges and the expansion of Medicaid eligibility. The time frames for particular technical assistance requests could range from less than a day to several months. Deliverables may include tables of estimates with accompanying documentation of methods and assumptions; short issue briefs; or longer white papers, as determined by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). Deliverables may be released to the public or held for internal ASPE use, as directed by the COR.

This contract will give ASPE continued access to the RAND COMPARE microsimulation model, which has already been thoroughly tested, revised, and used to estimate the effects of health reform proposals. The model is capable of simulating behavioral responses to policy changes by individuals, employers, or insurers. This follow-on work may explore the addition of model inputs such as administrative data for the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which are not currently components of the COMPARE model.

Outputs shall include estimates of the number of uninsured and the sources of coverage for the insured; eligibility for Medicaid and CHIP and for employer-sponsored coverage; premiums for large group, small group, and individual private coverage; and federal and state health care spending. The model shall allow the Contractor to simulate alternative scenarios in which Affordable Care Act provisions are and are not in effect in order to assess the impact of those provisions