Policy-makers are concerned about crowd-out-people dropping private coverage or employers changing their insurance offerings-because it limits the impact of public coverage expansions. When crowd-out occurs, scarce resources are used to cover people who would have insurance anyway. Much has been written about this topic, but studies present confusing and conflicting conclusions. This synthesis presents what is known about the extent and dynamics of crowd-out and discusses the effectiveness of policies to limit it.

Suggested citation:

Williams, C., G. Davidson, L. A. Blewett, and K. T. Call. “Public Program Crowd-Out of Private Coverage: What Are the Issues?” The Synthesis Project: New Insights from Research Results, Policy Brief No. 5.Princeton, NJ: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, June 2004.