Top
  • About Us
  • What We Focus On
    • Criminal Justice and Immigration
    • Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Water and Wastewater
    • Municipal Services
    • Parks and Recreation
    • Social Services
    • Other
  • Research
    • Criminal Justice and Immigration
    • Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Social Services
    • Other Reports and Resources
  • Tools and Guides
  • Blog
  • Privatization Report
  • Projects
    • Governing for the Common Good
    • Cashing in on Kids
  • Search
  • Get email updates
  • Donate
  • "It’s hard to think of any organization that is as valuable in protecting the public interest in a time when it is in peril."

    Diane Ravitch, Education historian

  • "With in-depth, well-researched analysis, the team at In the Public Interest is an invaluable policy resource."

    Randi Weingarten, President of AFT

  • "[In the Public Interest] understands from other cities where they’ve done it right and where they’ve done it wrong."

    Bill Peduto, Mayor of Pittsburgh, PA

In the Public Interest

In the Public Interest

Democracy, shared prosperity, and the common good

In the Public Interest is a comprehensive research and policy center on privatization and responsible contracting.

In the Public Interest

Democracy, shared prosperity, and the common good

In the Public Interest is a comprehensive research and policy center on privatization and responsible contracting.

What can we help you find? Type keywords here to start looking
Blog Social Services

To slow down coronavirus, we need a public health approach that’s truly ‘public’

Protecting the public health of all us requires protecting the health of each of us, without exception. 
March 2020
Blog Social Services

Privatizing D.C.’s Medicaid system makes zero sense—not even to save money

The nation’s capital recently announced it plans to fully privatize its Medicaid program—which is chilling news. Yes, most of D.C.’s Medicaid recipients already have their health care managed by private insurance [...]
October 2019
Publications Social Services What We Focus On

Privatizing the VA: Lessons from privatized Medicaid in Kansas and Iowa

Both Kansas and Iowa have suffered cuts in care, reduced far less costs than expected, and sacrificed oversight and transparency after privatizing Medicaid.
March 2018
Blog Social Services What We Focus On

Iowa’s Privatized Medicaid in “State of Emergency”

Just four months in, Iowa's Medicaid privatization may already be pushing the state's most vulnerable further to the margins.
August 2016
Blog Social Services What We Focus On

The Nod to Wall Street Buried Deep In Paul Ryan’s “Anti-Poverty” Plan

House Speaker Paul Ryan released a new “anti-poverty” plan last week that would only make it tougher for poor and working families to get by. As expected, the plan cuts from public programs that help low- and [...]
June 2016
Blog Other Social Services What We Focus On

What’s the Matter with Texas?

Texas has a reputation as a “business-friendly” state, but when it comes to contracting, is the Lone Star State too friendly with its private-sector vendors? That’s the question now before the state legislators in [...]
February 2015
Home Social Services

Safeguarding Children in Texas Foster Care: Key Issues in Policy and Practice Recommendations to [...]

This report outlines a number of steps Texas can take to improve child safety in foster care. [...]
April 2014
Home Social Services

Social Impact Bonds: Overview and Considerations

This paper provides background information and a framework to help respond to the question of whether a SIB would be a good way to expand funding for a particular intervention or population in a given state or community.
March 2014
Home Social Services

Drawing the Line between Public and Private Responsibility in Child Welfare: The Texas Debate

This report analyzes the different outcomes and risks associated with privatizing Child Protective Services case management and the delivery of services.
August 2008
Home Social Services

Public Benefits Privatization and Modernization: Recent Developments and Advocacy

This report summarizes recent efforts in states to modernize and privatize their eligibility determination for public benefits.
May 2008
Home Social Services

Peddling Welfare-Privatization Boondoggles

This study looks at the influence of contractors on decision makers for four cases in which Texas privatized human services.
July 2007
Home Social Services

Privatization of State Foster Care and Adoption Services

This report examines the problems that would arise from privatizing Texas' child protective services.
April 2007
Home Social Services

Updating and Outsourcing Enrollment in Public Benefits: The Texas Experience

This report evaluates Texas' new system for enrolling vulnerable residents in public benefits. [...]
December 2006
Home Social Services

Safety Net for Sale: The Dangers of Privatizing Social Services

This report documents how the history of social services privatization is replete with cost over-runs and service breakdowns.
January 2006
Home Social Services

Child Welfare Privatization and Child Welfare: Can the two be efficiently reconciled?

This article discusses the risks of using private contractors to deliver child welfare services.
January 2006
Home Social Services

Policy Considerations Relating to Privatization in the Food Stamp Program

This paper considers the inherent limits on states’ ability to reap the benefits of competition when contracting out food stamp program management. [...]
October 2004
Home Social Services

Florida’s Experiment with Privatizing Child Welfare Services

This report reviews Florida's five pilot programs - four of which failed - to privatize child welfare services.
April 2004
Home Social Services

Mental Health Care in North Carolina: Challenges on the Road to Reform

This article provides an overview of the state's mental health system, including the negative effects of privatization. [...]
October 2003
Home Responsible Contracting Social Services

The Mythology of Privatization in Contracting for Social Services

This analysis finds an absence of competition and public-management capacity in social service contracting, raising the question of why governments contract when these conditions are not met.
May 2003
Home Social Services

Privatization of Welfare Services: Delegation by Commercial Contract

This Article argues that the privatization of welfare services via contract with private organizations is inherently fraught with unavoidable due process problems and overstepping of the nondelegation doctrine. [...]
January 2003
Home Social Services

Does Contracting Out Increase the Efficiency of Government Programs? Evidence from Medicaid HMOs

This report uses empirical evidence to cast doubt on the hypothesis that HMO contracting has reduced the strain on government budgets.
August 2002
Home Social Services

Uncharted Terrain: The Intersection of Privatization and Welfare

In this article we review welfare privatization, identify some of the major issues and challenges for the advocacy community, highlight some experiences in particular states, and discuss some of the tools and strategies [...]
January 2002
Home Social Services

Prospecting Among the Poor: Welfare Privatization

This report discusses the privatization of welfare and profiles several of the large contractors in the sector. [...]
May 2001
Home Social Services

Legal Accountability in an Era of Privatized Welfare

This article explores the implications of welfare privatization on welfare beneficiaries' procedural rights
May 2001
Home Social Services

Nursing Home Privatization: What is the Human Cost?

This report investigates the effects of privatization or attempted privatization on the quality of care at several county and former county nursing homes in Western Pennsylvania. [...]
May 1998