Proponents of broader government financing of health insurance persistently argue that hospitals and doctors "cost shift"--that insured patients carry the burden of uninsured ones. But is it true? This study reveals the extent to which cost shifting occurs, with important implications for the health policy debate.

For more information, see Austin Frakt's HCFE working papers How Much Do Hospitals Cost Shift? A Review of the Evidence and Estimating Hospital Cost Shift Rates: A Practitioners' Guide.

Michael A. Morrisey is a professor of health care, organization, and policy at the University of Alabama and the director of the university's Lister Hill Center for Health Policy.