I agree with in your discussion on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that a great first step is to be sure the policy-makers/legislation has the power to make change happen in order to evaluate the effectiveness as quoted from the author Laureate Education, 2018 posted in your discussion. However, the ACA has enormous potential to bring about widespread changes in public health benefits, as in the power to make change happen, but the ACA does not and can not guarantee the right to health or insurance, it promotes important structural changes to the laws in the country that promote the attainment of the right to health. Given these twin paradoxes (as I mentioned in my discussion), and the positive potential for change in public safety arising from the ACA, the law’s public health effect appears uncertain, and several future legislative and enforcement decisions must be agreed upon.
The United States Constitution does not set forth an explicit right to health care, and the Supreme Court has never interpreted the Constitution as guaranteeing a right to health care services from the government for those who can not afford it ( KS Swendiman, 2012). The Supreme Court has, however, held that the government has an obligation to provide medical care in certain limited circumstances, such as for prisoners ( KS Swendiman, 2012).
There are many groups that weigh in on significant health policy issues. America’s expansive range of policymaking bodies and group seeking to influence policy, render it impossible to offer a systemic and comprehensive analysis of health policy formulation (Lawrence Gostin 1990). The formal development of health policy is the primary preserve of three branches of government the executive, legislature, and judiciary-at the state and federal levels (Lawrence Gostin, 1990). With that being said as stated by the author, Lawrence Gostin health policy is best formulated through rigorous and objective assessment of data, the author did note he did not support any restrictions on the right of the groups to publish their views and to appropriately lobby policymakers. A robust constitutional society that values freedom of expression and unrestricted participation in the political process should support a role for interest groups in health policy formulation (Lawrence Gostin, 1990). It should not censor or fetter the views of those who seek to participate in the process (Lawrence Gostin, 1990).). Yet the various branches should be able to rely on full, objective information and advice based upon sound evidence (Lawrence Gostin,1990).
So as you mentioned in your discussion that a first great step is to be sure the policymakers have the power to make a change in order to evaluate the effectiveness, you can see here through my response that there are a lot of factors that affect the development of health law polices. The policies themselves are rarely subjected to scientific scrutiny. Whether society seeks to reform the health care system, to restrict or to expand women’s choices to receive an abortion, or to authorize or to criminalize physician-assisted dying, it has no precise means by which to test for the “correct” approach. Health policy decisions often reflect choices between competing values, as well as assessments of available data. Interest groups, including organizations representing various health care professionals who evaluate their values and data through there own lens.
The question for me stems down to not whether one has a right to health care, or that one can afford to pay for health care, but whether the government or some other organization has the obligation to provide such care to those who can not afford it.
REFERENCES
Lawrence Gostin (1990). American Journal of Law and Medicine; 16:1-32. A decade of a maturing epidemic: an assessment and direction for future public policy.
The Formulation of Health Policy by the Three Branches of Government. Retrieved March 14, 2020, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nlh.gov>books
Kathleen S. Swediman (July 9,2012). Health Care: Constitutional Rights and Legislative Powers. Retrieved March 14, 2020, from
https://fas.org>sgp>crs>misc
Lopes Write Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Important information for writing discussion questions and participation
Welcome to class
Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to
I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.
Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.
If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.
Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.
Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.
I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
Hi Class,
Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.
Contact me if you have any questions.
Important information on Writing a Discussion Question
- Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
- There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
- Include in-text citations in your response
- Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
- Follow APA-7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor
- A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
- Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
- Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
- Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
- Follow APA 7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
- Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
- Here are some helpful links
- Student paper example
- Citing Sources
- The Writing Center is a great resource
A Sample Answer 4 For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Assignment Legislation Comparison Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement
Title: NURS 6050 Assignment Legislation Comparison Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement
For legislators, supporting legislation or supporting legislation being repealed can come at a great cost and influences their decision greatly. The act of supporting a piece of legislation that is not popular with the constituency that elected them may end up costing them more. This could be in the form of more campaign dollars to gain the favor of the public again or it could just cost them their position entirely. The same could be said for supporting legislation being repealed. When we keep in mind that their number one goal is to be reelected, they will likely opt for what they think makes them most popular with the public that elected them. It would likely benefit the legislator to be consistent with the party that they align themselves with for networking purposes as well. The ACA was a very democratic lead legislation, being passed with no republican votes (Walden University LLC, 2018b). Therefore, if a legislator is aligned with the Republicans, it may be in their best interest to oppose the ACA or look to revise it.
The monetary cost of repealing or replace the ACA according to the Committee for a Responsible budget is as follows: a full repeal of the ACA would cost 350 billion dollars, and money saved from repealing the ACA coverage positions would save 1.55 trillion (2021). One would also have to consider how repealing the ACA would leave many without health insurance. Looking at the problem from a monetary standpoint, a legislator on the Republican side would likely be more in favor of repealing or replacing and editing the ACA due to Republicans tendency towards conservative spending. While a legislator aligned with the Democrats would likely favor keeping the ACA which would aid the numerous people who gained health insurance through the act.
Also, the Lobbyists who contribute to campaigns, likely greatly impact the decision of the legislator. The ACA is a very polarizing topic in politics. That being said, a legislator’s stance on it will greatly shift their public view. According to Milstead and Short, 2019, as a part of the expansion of the risk pool in the ACA, many insurers backed out of the Health Insurance Exchanges (p. 176). Some of these insurance companies could contribute funding to some legislators, thus impacting their decision. Looking at what the ACA could still accomplish if left in place and maybe revised, there are still 25 million uninsured people in the United States. These are potential voters for a legislator that chooses to support the ACA (Walden University LLC, 2018a). Moreover, it is quite concerning how much of a focus on re-election there is in politics, when you would think that the goal of politics would be to have a positive impact on the public.
hank you for this insightful discussion post. The healthcare system of no country is the same when it comes to healthcare and healthcare delivery to their people, but it is always good to learn about alternative solutions. The best countries were those that could reduce the cost of medical services for patients. Netherlands and Norway have been more successful than others in this area by increasing the speed of access to health care services. The quality of healthcare is determined by considering a wide range of factors, including the care process (preventative care measures, safe care, coordinated care, and engagement and patient preferences), access (affordability and timeliness), administrative efficiency, equity, and healthcare outcomes (population health, mortality amenable to healthcare, and disease-specific health outcomes) (Best Healthcare in the World 2023, n.d.). For example, the United Kingdom with free health care system, the long waiting time for patients, and the disparity in access between the rich and the poor have affected this country’s ranking. The United States ranks last in things like access to administrative efficiency, equity, and outcomes of care and services but second in the assessment of treatment process despite devoting a significant portion of its GDP (gross domestic product) to healthcare.
Compared to residents of the United States and the Netherlands, the UK, Norway, and Germany are significantly less likely to report that their insurance did not pay or paid less than expected and less likely to have problems paying their medical bills. Also, in these countries, medical and healthcare services will be provided to people on the same day, and they do not need to wait in line to receive benefits. On the other hand, the outcome of the US comparison was favorable in areas such as preventive care, safe and secure healthcare, and patient interaction and preferences. America’s poor performance compared to other countries negatively affected average performance. In my view, by investing in primary medical care in the early stages, such as family doctor plans, our country can reduce the administrative burden on the shoulders of patients and medical staff. In December 2017, the AAFP Board of Directors adopted the Principles for Administrative Simplification and made reducing the administrative and regulatory burden experienced by family physicians. What is often overlooked is the loss of productivity and economic costs associated with the administrative burden (Here’s How We’re Battling Administrative Burden for You, n.d.). At last, no international comparative report will be able to cover all aspects of a complex healthcare system, and no country has a perfect health system. Therefore, all countries can try new policies and practices that lead to an ideal healthcare system.
References:
Best Healthcare in the World 2023. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world
health outcomes). (Best Healthcare in the World 2023, n.d.)
Here’s How We’re Battling Administrative Burden for You. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2023, from https://www.aafp.org/news/blogs/inthetrenches/entry/20200204itt-adminburden.html
A Sample Answer 5 For the Assignment: NURS 6050 Assignment Legislation Comparison Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement
Title: NURS 6050 Assignment Legislation Comparison Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement
Money and power can be great motivators. As you previously stated, politicians use the polarizing nature of the many issues facing healthcare in order to gain votes, not evaluate the best solution for the welfare of the population. The United States has been tauted to have the “best healthcare in the world”. It certainly could be argued that the care in the U.S. is superior. However, our healthcare system is not without its issues.
The Affordable Care Act was an attempt to correct the disparities in healthcare in an effort to insurance access to the uninsured by expanding Medicaid, creating sliding scale insurance prices, insurance rate restrictions, and by allowing children to stay on their parent’s insurance until age 26 (Campbell and Shepard, 2020). Unfortuneately, the perspective of some constituents and politicians was that we are throwing money into a broken system. Additionally, some people would prefer limited government interference in daily living, so the Affordable Care Act represented a step closer to socialized medicine.
In truth, health coverage is very complex with many different factors to consider. According to Campbell and Shepard (2020), social scientists are exploring it’s origins and effects including important but not fully understood long term changes in the ACA and may have been affected by it in ways that are difficult to disentangle. For the average U.S. citizen, reading and understanding the Affordable Care Act would be tedious and quite a feat in itself. Therefore, many Americans rely on politicians and the media to understand and interpret the complex policies, and this leaves the citizens vulnerable to manipulation.
Consider the perspective on the Affordable Care Act taken by our current president. According to the White House (2022), President Biden stated, “Over the last 12 years, Republicans in Congress have voted over 70 times to repeal the ACA with no real plan to replace it, and just this year a Republican revealed a plan to strip protections from 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and jack up premiums.” However, upon researching the issue, I discovered that there is in fact an executive order from the Administration of Donald Trump called “An America First Healthcare Plan”. The same set of facts and circumstances are present, except this order states, “On December 22, 2017, I signed into law the repeal of the burdensome individual-mandate penalty (of the ACA), liberating millions of low-income Americans from a tax that penalized them for not purchasing health-insurance coverage they did not want or could not afford. Through Executive Order 13813 of October 12, 2017 (Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States), my Administration has expanded coverage options for millions of Americans in several ways…” (The Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020). These two statements contradict each other. One states that there was no plan, however the other goes on to describe what the plan was in detail. This is a falacy of incomplete comparison. Not all of the necessary information was present to evaluate the premises. Additionally, the language used is highly emotionally charged and seems intended to illicit fear, anger, or victimization – words like burdensome, “no real plan”, and jacked up premiums. Additionally, the word “liberated” ellicits positive feelings that would make the listener more likely to allign with the speaker.
As stated in the original post, a politician’s goal is to stay in office. Therefore, not every statement can be taken at face value, especially without doing one’s due diligence and researching the topic. After researching this topic, it appears that ethics and politics do not go hand in hand. One must observe for the implicit bias in any argument, but especially arguments that affect policies in healthcare. As a profession, we are trained to distinguish between fact and extraneous materials. It appears that taking an active role in researching both sides of the issues and comparing them with reliable sources while being alert for implicit biases and logical falacies is yet another way we can be advocates for our patients. Certainly, the politicians are not altruistically taking positions on policies.
The Administration of Donald J. Trump (2020). Executive Order 13951 – An America First Healthcare Plan. Retrieved from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202000722/pdf/DCPD-202000722.pdf.
Campbell, Andrea Louise and Lara Shore-Sheppard (2020). “The Social, Political, and Economic Aspects of the Affordable Care Act: Introduction to the Issue”. RSF: The Russel Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 6(2): 1-40. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/rsf.2020.6.2.01#metadata_info_tab_contents.
The White House (2022). “Statement by Joe Biden on the 12th Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act”. The Briefing Room. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/23/statement-by-president-joe-biden-on-the-12th-anniversary-of-the-affordable-care-act/.
