Want to better understand the basics of how a public option might be structured and designed? These resources give an overview of the range of options available to policymakers and the impacts they may have.

• Congressional Proposals for a Federal Public Health Insurance Option (The Commonwealth Fund, 2022)
• A Public Option for Health Insurance in the Nongroup Marketplaces: Key Design Considerations and Implications (Congressional Budget Office, 2021)
• Designing a Public Option That Would Reduce Health Care Provider Prices (USC-Brookings, 2021)
• Design of Public Option and Capped Provider Price Reforms (Urban Institute, 2021)
• Expanding Health Insurance through a Public Option—Choices and Trade-offs (JAMA, 2021)
• How A Public Option Could Hold Down Costs (Health Affairs, 2021)
• Public Options Will Improve Health Equity Across the Country (Center for American Progress, 2021)
• State Public Option–Style Laws: What Policymakers Need to Know (The Commonwealth Fund, 2021)
• 4 Myths About the Public Option (Center for American Progress, 2020)
• Effects of a Public Option on Health Insurance Costs and Coverage (RAND, 2020)
• Options for Designing a Public Option (RAND, 2020)
• The Public Option: From Hacker to Biden (Petris Center, 2020)
• 10 Key Questions on Public Option Proposals (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2019)
• Expanding Access to Public Insurance Plans (American Academy of Actuaries, 2019)
• Medicare-for-All and Public Plan Buy-In Proposals: Overview and Key Issues (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2019)
• The Landscape of Federal and State Healthcare Buy-In Models: Considerations for Policymakers (Manatt, 2019)
• What State Health Care Reform Proposals Could Teach Congress (The Century Foundation, 2019)
• Can a Public Insurance Plan Increase Competition and Lower the Costs of Health Reform? (Urban Institute, 2009)
• Getting to a Public Option that Contains Costs: Negotiations, Opt-Outs and Triggers (Urban Institute, 2009