This paper is a summary of a 1999 policy conference, The Kaiser Incremental Health Reform Project, which highlighted both the policy and politics of incrementalism.

Proposals that attempt to expand coverage in the private individual insurance market will only work if private insurance is available and affordable. This paper describes how the current individual marketplace will affect the ability of such proposals to assure equitable access to affordable coverage. This paper is part of the Kaiser Incremental Health Reform Project.

This paper discusses ethical issues in incremental approaches to expanding health insurance coverage. Although any reduction in the number of uninsured is morally desirable, there are real moral differences between different policy options.

Many proposals for incremental expansion of health insurance coverage would provide subsidies for the purchase of nongroup policies.

Enactment of the Children's Health Insurance Program has been accompanied by concerns that new coverage will "crowd out" private health insurance coverage. Part of the Kaiser Incremental Health Reform Project, this paper reviews existing empirical literature on the magnitude of crowd-out and discusses implications for CHIP.