Examining Crowd-Out In Public Health Insurance Programs

Public Health Insurance Programs

"Revisting Crowd-Out," Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:The brief updates a previous report by the Foundation on crowd-out, thephenomenon of public coverage substituting for private insurance, andreviews recent findings on the size of crowd-out, the effectiveness ofmeasures to discourage crowd-out and trade-offs policymakers face intrying to prevent the practice. The brief finds that incentives forlow-wage workers to purchase affordable health coverage might be a moreeffective way to prevent crowd-out than anti-crowd-out measures, whichhave been found to discourage the uninsured as well as those withprivate insurance from enrolling in public health programs (Robert WoodJohnson Foundation release, 9/26).

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