The Health Care Safety Net: What is It, What Good Does It Do, and Will It Still be There When We Need It?

Fall 2007
Harvard Health Policy Review , Vol. 8, No. 2
Peter J. Cunningham

This is an invited paper for the Harvard Health Policy Review. The paper reviews the research and policy literature on the role of the safety net in providing access to care for the uninsured, the limitations of relying on safety net expansions to improve access, and some of the stresses that safety net providers are currently experiencing that may limit their ability to meet rising demand for care from the uninsured.

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