The Process by Which Topics Become Public Policies

The concept of providing basic healthcare services to individuals in need has undergone an agonizing transition, from a luxury once only afforded by the affluent to a basic human right granted to citizens of every economic station, and the recently enacted Affordable Care Act (ACA) was designed to finalize this ethical evolution. Reflecting perhaps the bitter political enmity currently consuming the nation's once cherished democratic process, Republican legislatures in states throughout the union have bristled at the ACA's primary provisions, threatening all manner of procedural protestation as they attempt to delay and derail the bill's eventual implementation. One of the most intriguing aspects of the sprawling, thousand page law, however, has been the stipulation that individual states will be given a choice to either accept federal funding to expand their statewide Medicaid roster, or to forfeit all federal funding for that program in perpetuity. The role of government in monitoring and regulating the healthcare industry has been long debated, and the bitterly contested passage of President Obama's ACA, a law aimed at revising the country's health insurance system through the creating of a federal health insurance exchange to facilitate increased competition among insurers, has rekindled the debate over who holds the ultimate responsibility for regulating the care provided by hospitals, community clinics, and private practices.

At the beginning of this article, the author brings up the fields of policy studies, how to understand the policy making and how they

The New York Times printed an article by Robert Pear, which reported that on December 24, 2009, the US senate passed the first bill, which would call for major reform regarding health care in the United States (Pear). The article titled “Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul on Party-Line Vote,” discusses the fact that while this step was a major milestone in the process of providing Americans with affordable heath care, it was not the end of the road. Over the coming months and years there would be a lot of give and take between democrats and republicans to revise the bill to the point where both sides could support it. One of the major points in this reform is that the US government was now going to offer affordable plans including subsidy options which would allow more Americans affordable options which were

The American Health Care system needs to be constantly improved to keep up with the demands of America’s health care system. In order for the American Health Care system to improve policies must be constantly reviewed. Congress still plays a powerful role in public policy making (Morone, Litman, & Robins, 2008). A health care policy is put in place to reach a desired health outcome, which may have a meaningful effect on people. People in position of authority advocates for a new policy for the group they have special interest in helping. The Health care system is formed by the health care policy making process (Abood, 2007). There are public, institutional, and business policies related to health care developed by hospitals, accrediting organizations, or managed care organizations (Abood, 2007). A policy is implemented to improve the health among people in the United States. Some policies

In order to first start a policy process, the problem for which a policy is to be created must be identified and the policy holding a solution to the problem. Researchers and stakeholders will investigate the problem to identify if the policy will reach the policy making agenda. Policies must be to improve society’s health and wellbeing. In the United States (U.S.) public health related issues that require a formulation of a new policy and come from local, state, or federal legislations which ruling govern the provision of health care services and regulations. In this

(2001). The Formulation of Health Policy by the Three Branches of Government. Social Policy and Policymaking by the Branches of Government and the Public-at-Large. doi:10.7312/stei11682-014

In this paper we will discuss the final stages of how a topic becomes a policy. The paper will discuss formulation, implementation, and the legislation stage. These stages must be done in this order to ensure the policy is being formed the correct way and not scattered around. This paper will also consist of the evaluation stage, analysis stage, and revision stage and describe the purpose and methodologies process for evaluating and revising a public policy.

One of the most controversial bill was made a law on March 23, 2010. President Obama signed the bill that passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly referred to as Obama Care. “The ACA represents the most sweeping reform since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965”(Shi&Singh, p. 111). The opposition to implementation to ACA should not have come as a surprise and certainly was not implemented as smoothly as intended. It was passed via compromise, thus creating loop holes in a fragile new system in the infancy stage. Such a drastic, yet necessary, reformation in health care came at a time of financial insecurity in a nation that is only a few years out of a recession. Taking on the responsibility

Many would not think that nursing and politics would make good collaborators. However, nurses approach politics similar to developing a care plan for patients. We identify the problem, implement a plan and evaluate (PIE). The director of the legislative committee shared an analysis process used to establish policy priorities and to accomplish change. This process is discussed in Mason et al. (2014): (a) identify the problem; (b) list proposed solutions; (c) know the history or background of the previous challenges to resolve

When President Barack Obama ran for office in 2008 he vowed to revolutionize the healthcare environment as it stood. With overwhelming election resuts Obama took the helm as the leader of our nation’s Medicaid program and immedialty begain lobbying for legislation to expand. Not since 1965 had our nation seen such a demeand from a president to change the landscape of healthcare for consumers and providers alike. One of the crucial elements of The Patient Protection and Afordable Care Act (Obamacare) was the need for states to expand eligibility to Medicaid in a bid aimed at improving the health of the welfare of the country Medicaid is a component of what the federal government enacted in the year 1965 that seeks to finance the delivery of better and affordable health care services to those designated “needy families” and to children. The program required states to expand the eligibility criteria to 138 percent of the federal government poverty levels to allow for the increased coverage of the children and an increase in the number of low-income earners. However, the Affordable care Act made the decision to expand the eligibility criteria the discretion of the States resulting in different state level governments opting for different approaches as some chose to expand while others decided not to expand. The subject is essential since it provides a clear insight into the effects policies pose to the healthcare sector and how people are affected. This study also allows one

Healthcare policy is dynamic and ever changing, especially in our society today with the many changes in government control, insurance company influence, and actual delivery of healthcare services. In order to corral our healthcare system and ensure that there is quality control amongst all populations, health policies must be put in place. Health policy is defined as many things due to its dynamic nature but the assigned text expresses a definition that encompasses all aspects of what health policy is for us today, “Authoritative decisions made in the legislative, executive, or judicial branches of government that are intended to direct or influence that actions, behaviors, or decisions of others”(Longest, p. 5, (2010)). Among the many reasons why health policy is pertinent to our society an aspect of health policy that I feel is most important is in regards to public health practices. Health policy is the reason why populations that whom otherwise would not receive the absolute needed healthcare, actually get to receive healthcare. The financial aspect of healthcare is quite steep and more often than not healthcare services are not sought out by populations because they cannot afford to do so. With health policy the policymakers allow for the proper and equal disbursement of goods and services to ensure that everyone is remaining healthy no matter what

On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Accompanied by a strong sense of disapproval from the public, which resulted in a rush to get the bill passed and deadlines tightened to make sure things were on the agenda on time. A debate ensued among the bill’s supporters regarding the importance of public opinion surrounding the ACA. The vast majority of supporters concluded it is only a minor part of the reform and not a critical component. The ACA has only been in effect for the past few years, and this short time gap makes assessing definitive effects of the ACA difficult. Success in in terms of the ACA is hard to define. This is due to the intentions set forth by the government being genially vague and ambiguous. Even so, with the ACA’s rapid movement through the design process many inconsistences in the reporting and managing of the proposed healthcare policy were noted. This led to an underestimation of the costs and overestimation of the perceived benefits. The result of the cost-benefit analysis and reviews of alternative methods were forgone in order to pass quick regulations. Furthermore, regulators failed to consider the moral hazards of the new rules, which are a result of people changing their habits because they don 't have to worry about the outcomes. For instance, people may smoke or drink more knowing that insurance will pay for any medical treatment. Furthermore, people can use the services for relatively minor issues

In the United States there has been a concern about providing health care assistance to citizens for a number of years. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the government began proposing various bills that would provide health care relief with opposition from both political parties due to their different agendas on what would be best for Americans. In this case study, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will address its origin and impact on healthcare, an analysis utilizing Bardach Eightfold Path process, and implementation in the workplace including state and Federal standards.

Health policies, whether allocative or regulatory, are presented, debated, and decided on through the legislative process. It is the responsibility of all nurses to understand the many steps to this process, recognize problems that require attention, and know how they are able to influence the decision making process (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). The required steps for a bill to become a law include: introduction, committee consideration, floor scheduling, House and Senate consideration, difference resolution, and Presidential action. Only after successful passage through all steps can a bill be delivered for submission into public law.

The most important stakeholder in the healthcare policymaking is probably the patient. In Massachusetts, the Act provided “nearly universal health insurance coverage” (case study). In 2009 the