Responses WK2

Class Response 2

America is supposed to be a place where people have a say in their rules and regulation. Public policy is a difficult and challenging process that involves a lot of different players with all different interest. The people involved vary from individuals, interest groups, religious groups, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses. They all use different tactics to push their agenda forward through sensitization of the public, lobbying, and donating to political leaders’ campaign (Todd, 2013).  All these groups tend to drag the policies in different directions. If the policy does not favor a particular group; they try to block it instead of changing or improving it. Also, all these parties involved cost policy making to be along in slow process. 

In healthcare, affordability is a big concern when it comes to health coverage in this country. The affordable care act (ACA) was passed in 2010 by Obama which allowed every American access to affordable health care (Brown, 2018). At first many were pleased because they could have healthcare that was once out of reach, or they could not afford. However, this did not ensure that they were guaranteed access to quality care. That is one of the reasons why the ACA has had a lot of controversy from the Republican Party. The suppliers of legislative benefits are legislators, and their primary goal is to be re-elected. Thus, legislators need to maximize their chances for re-election, which requires political support. Majority of the legislative members act on self-interest, they fight to achieve their goal of re-election and their legislative decisions are based on factors that would contribute to their re-election and not for the benefit of the citizens who they serve (Milstead and Short, 2019). The decision of our legislators is driven by the excitement and power the legislative position brings to them and not primarily on what benefits the people. These have affected efforts to repeal/replace the ACA. Even though the republican legislators understand the benefits of ACA to the citizens, good number of them still support to have it replaced or repealed because of the consequences it will have on their chances of getting re-elected if allowed to continue.

The decision of legislators is driven by their desire to achieve their goal of re-election and not on the primary need of the voters who elected them. Voters views may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies as elections have the effect of bringing about some degree of policy compromise. Competing political candidates have incentives to adopt positions that reflect the preferences of the electorate because doing so raises the chances they will win the election (Andy, 2012). That is, voters can affect the policy choices of politicians. The Affordable Care Act has been a touchy subject since it was passed. It will continue to be a topic of disagreement between people. There are pros and cons for the act, but there will need to be a replacement if the act is repealed. Horror of what could potentially be worse than what is already established continues but on history; legislation will continue to hold the power and put their needs first.

References

Andy, S. (2012). Factors that influence public policy.  Journal of health politics, policy, and law, 39(2),441-465

Brown E. C. (2018) Health reform and theories of cost.  Journal of law and medicine ethics. Vol 47, Issue 18

Milstead. J.A. & Short, N.M. (2019).  Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones &Bartlett learning.

Todd P. (2013). How was 91 percent of congress re-elected despite a 10 percent approval rating? Retrieved from:  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/congress-election-results_b_2114947