HEALTH POLICY ASSIGNMENTS

Health policy assignment

Student’s name

University affiliation

Review the following report at:

https://kapextmediassl-a.akamaihd.net/healthSci/HA545/HA545_1703C/u5_as.pdf

Using this Congressional Report for members of Congress and your textbook, write a 5-page memorandum/paper on the topic of rulemaking.

You are a summer intern with Harry Smith, a Congressman from your home district. He has to advise his congressional committee on the impact of interest groups on legislation. Write the memorandum to explain the purpose and influence on rulemaking in the operation of the legislation. You should offer suggestions on the importance of the implementation phase of the legislation. (YOU DID NOT DO ASSIGNMENT CORRECT, IT DOES NOT EXPLAIN THE ASSIGNMENT BEING ASKED)

Rulemaking is essentially the creation, amendment not to mention repeal of rules. Generally, rules are used by various agencies in the state after the Congress with its main responsibility of making rules passes them. They are called regulation because they aim at controlling or prohibiting certain behaviors. Regulations start in Congress, where there are outlined for the formation of the agency involved. In this case, the rules originate from the Congress https://kapextmediassl-a.akamaihd.net/healthSci/HA545/HA545_1703C/u5_as.pdf .

Each year, the federal government issues a substantial number of rules. These rules cover all agencies of administration. At the same time creation together with the implementation of rules costs a huge amount of money. However, the cost involved with the implementation of these rules is not part of the national government budget process.

Normally, when Congress passes a law it can require the agency involved to create rules to supplement the primary law or in order to meet its requirements. Moving on the Congress issues an authorization that signals the issue of the rule. Ideally, this means that the Congress passes a law but does not have the experience or knowledge thereon to create the rules required to implement the statute. On the other hand, agencies fall under the executive branch, however, the Congress has limited jurisdiction in the executive branch. This aspect reflects the principle of separation in government. With this delicate balance, it means that the Congress could be aware of the issue, but due to its limited powers to get involved in matters related to the executive, it may not have the expertise to address the issue https://kapextmediassl-a.akamaihd.net/healthSci/HA545/HA545_1703C/u5_as.pdf .

The agency, therefore, is in charge of making the rules to meet the needs of the law from the Congress. The agency rather expounds on the law emancipating from the Congress in order to explicitly guide subject to the requirements of the law.

Write a 7-9 page paper with bibliography. Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the Pocket Guide to APA Style to ensure in-text citations and reference list are correct.

You will synthesize your understanding of why Medicare Part D passed, as well as the influence of the various interest groups and governmental entities during this process. Make sure to discuss both the policy process and the policy environment—that is, the key players involved and other circumstances that shaped this policy-making effort. For this assignment, address the following questions, doing further research as needed:

· How did various stakeholder groups influence the final outcome of Medicare Part D legislation?

· What were the specific strategies and tools that were used most effectively?

· Does the fact that Medicare Part D passed corresponds with your understanding of policy and politics, or did this surprise you? Explain your response.

Medicare started covering the cost of some of the drugs that are used in the nation in early 2006. This is known as the Medicare Part D benefit. This benefit is administered through insurance companies that offer approved prescription in accordance with the Medicare Act. Medicare part D policy is advantageous in a number of ways. First, it benefits recipients by reducing their expenses in relation to prescribed drugs. This benefit was greatly felt by patients with high annual expenses for prescription medication. Interestingly, for patients with low incomes, the policy costs them more than they paid before the implementation of the policy. Shockingly, the legislation that formed Part D restricts Medicare from getting involved in negotiations of lowering cost of production thus the increase in the cost of prescription medications is shifted to recipients. Much of the issues with Medicare Part D policy are embedded in its nature and the political agendas not to mention profit motives from lobbying forces (Einav, Finkelstein, & Schrimpf, 2015).

To understand the fundamental issues surrounding this law, two important aspects are important. The passage of the law in the House of Republicans is important to understanding the underlying issues in the policy. Second to this is to understand policy impacts that sought to profit the pharmaceutical industry. Medicare Part D policy profited these industries uncontrollably because Medicare had no power to negotiate to lower prices (Einav, Finkelstein, & Schrimpf, 2015). To a great degree, these two aspects show how public policy is often misguided for political as well as financial gain. The policy has been called many names since its passage; however, the most fascinating thing is that it occurred at a time when fiscal projection pointed to a looming deficit. With all this knowledge, Republicans suppressed them even before it was passed and coerced their fellow Republicans to get the legislation enacted.

In respect to enactment of the policy, various strategies were employed by the Republicans. The Republicans faked the cost that would be incurred in the policy first ten years. The Bush government was aware that the quoted cost was not accurate. This is after Medicare’s chief actuary concluded that the cost would be in excess of more than the initial cost quoted to sustain the policy. Due to this controversy, a Republican appointee at the department of health received threats that he would be fired if the information was made public. This was a strategy to keep the policy moving forward because it was obvious that had it been made public it would have taken less time for a member of the house or senate to kill it. Additionally, there was also an unprecedented move to coerce members of Congress to get the law enacted. The Republic had numbers in the House but nevertheless when it came to the final vote it almost failed. Interestingly, the allowed time frame for voting came to an end, but the vote was kept open for another three hours to allow Republicans to change their votes.

Both the passage and implementation of the policy was a clearly a part of political agenda. The one stakeholder group (Medicare) that should have been involved and considered more in the law gained the least from it. The law ignored important beneficiaries like Medicare and ended up being written by lobbyists for own gain. The policy became of primary concern in the sense that it helped the Republican achieve their personal ambitions. Therefore lobbyists were among the stakeholders who influenced the passing of Part D, irrespective of its fault. In other words, the policy was marked by the unprecedented use of influence in Congress and of equally concerns policy agenda. Direct control of information is the main strategy that was employed by the Bush government and the tactic of time applied on the house floor for a final vote. Political agenda coined with other interests helped guarantee control over drug pricing for pharmaceutical industries. On top of this, the policy added to the deficit. It had no offsets to cost and did not attempt to raise revenue for it.

The fact that Medicare Part D passed does not correspond with my understanding of policy and politics. The impact of this health law had and continues to reflect Republicans’ immoral values. The fact remains that the national debt belongs to both parties’ thus mixing political agenda and personal interests do no good than harm. From my own point of view any member who voted in favor of the bill has no right to criticize anything the Democrats have brought forth in terms of adding to the federal debt. It is clear that the Republicans were only planning to strategize toward winning one election, which I have no doubt they didn’t plan for, because it was expressed in the party’s ambitions to satisfy personal interest. Basically, the Medicare part D policy is a surprise to any rational individual putting into consideration, the cost, the enrolment plan, and the period of time it took to be passed. Pharmaceuticals companies tend to profit from the policy instead for the consumers.

Write a 7-9 page paper with a References List. Your written assignment must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the Pocket Guide to APA Style to ensure in-text citations and reference list are correct.

You will synthesize your understanding of why Clinton’s Health Plan was unsuccessful. Discuss the features of the Clinton health care reform plan and provide reasons why it failed and describe the influence of the various interest groups and governmental entities during this process. Make sure to discuss both the policy process and the policy environment—that is, the key players involved and other circumstances that shaped this policy-making effort. Consider and discuss the following:

1. Take a position in support or opposition

2. Discuss the context of this legislation - name the expected demanders and suppliers as outlined in our textbook, Chapter 3.

3. Describe the expected interest groups and there specific arguments.

4. Describe the expected interplay between demanders and suppliers, interest groups and analyze the public policy environment.

The plan begins with the assumption that all the population in the United States must be assured health coverage that as the president said could not be taken away. The assumption presented in this universality assumes that coverage could better health care delivery as well as the well-being for the society. In this case, I think Clinton’s health plan was unsuccessful it failed to consider very important elements in relation to who is going to pay, how much, for what, and limit among others. From this standpoint, the plan was nothing more than an enormous of luxury. However, this does not dispute the ethical element involved in covering all individuals. Freedom of choice is another element defined in this plan because the health plan to some extent restricted the individuals’ liberty to make important health choices (Eibner, Nowa & Liu, 2016). On the other hand, the plan faced resistance from the conservative groups, because this totality of inclusivity meant all the population would be covered.

They are different interest groups in relation to Clinton’s health plan. Because healthcare is a diverse industry and affects every citizen in America, legislators appear to be emerging. National health reforms involving the guarantee of coverage for all Americans necessitate some national rules. This includes the obligation of various key players such as employers, individuals as well as governments. Policymakers argued that the issue of comprehensives was more sophisticated. A nationally guaranteed benefit could be narrowed by covering fewer services or limiting benefits in terms of days. For different reasons, each of these options was invalidated. In a nutshell, the policy was viewed to be too good but limiting the extent of coverage would be burden key plays in the health industry, especially the government ((Eibner, Nowa & Liu, 2016). On the other hand, the health plan expected all employers and individuals to contribute making them key stakeholders.

The interplay between demanders and suppliers is the change of the policies that influence the direction of healthcare facilities. Furthermore, the decision made by legislators together with executives who assumes the role of suppliers may garner a response by means of compensating for the implications. Similarly, health services on the basis of money impacted by the political market. The United States, allocates substantially, a huge sum of money to cater for health expenditures irrespective of being the leading nation in per capita. With the ever-increasing health expenditure in the nation, this is going to affect health care facilities and reduces individuals’ access to health services. To summarize, the impending debate over health care is likely to persist. The challenges revolving around the coverage can be met.

References

Ward, J. (2016). Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth, profitability, and family leadership. Springer.

Swinburn, B., Kraak, V., Rutter, H., Vandevijvere, S., Lobstein, T., Sacks, G., ... & Magnusson, R. (2015). Strengthening of accountability systems to create healthy food environments and reduce global obesity. The Lancet, 385(9986), 2534-2545.

Einav, L., Finkelstein, A., & Schrimpf, P. (2015). The response of drug expenditure to nonlinear contract design: evidence from medicare part D. The quarterly journal of economics, 130(2), 841-899.

Eibner, C., Nowak, S., & Liu, J. (2016). Hillary Clinton’s Health Care Reform Proposals: Anticipated Effects on Insurance Coverage, Out-of-Pocket Costs, and the Federal Deficit. Commonwealth Fund, September, 23.

The Federal Rulemaking Process: An Overview: Congressional Research Service Report RL32240 by Curtis W. Copeland, Government and Finance Division. Retrieved from https://kapextmediassl-a.akamaihd.net/healthSci/HA545/HA545_1703C/u5_as.pdf