Legislation

Healthcare Legislation Response

[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

The issue that you have discussed Pamela in this post is an important one and is prevalent too. I totally agree with the points that you have discussed. Politics is crucial and plays a critical role ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"110fcnvR","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Oliver, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Oliver, 2006)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":544,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/AEKJJ5SA"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/AEKJJ5SA"],"itemData":{"id":544,"type":"article-journal","title":"The politics of public health policy","container-title":"Annual Review of Public Health","page":"195-233","volume":"27","source":"PubMed","abstract":"Politics, for better or worse, plays a critical role in health affairs. The purpose of this article is to articulate a role for political analysis of public health issues, ranging from injury and disease prevention to health care reform. It begins by examining how health problems make it onto the policy agenda. Perceptions regarding the severity of the problem, responsibility for the problem, and affected populations all influence governmental responses. Next, it considers how bounded rationality, fragmented political institutions, resistance from concentrated interests, and fiscal constraints usually lead political leaders to adopt incremental policy changes rather than comprehensive reforms even when faced with serious public health problems. It then identifies conditions under which larger-scale transformation of health policy can occur, focusing on critical junctures in policy development and the role of policy entrepreneurs in seizing opportunities for innovation. Finally, it reviews the challenges confronting officials and agencies who are responsible for implementing and administering health policies. Public health professionals who understand the political dimensions of health policy can conduct more realistic research and evaluation, better anticipate opportunities as well as constraints on governmental action, and design more effective policies and programs.","DOI":"10.1146/annurev.publhealth.25.101802.123126","ISSN":"0163-7525","note":"PMID: 16533115","journalAbbreviation":"Annu Rev Public Health","language":"eng","author":[{"family":"Oliver","given":"Thomas R."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Oliver, 2006). The laws are there to secure the rights of the people, but they are influenced by the lobbyists. As you mentioned that the health care staff and the nurses do not see the term politics as a good or positive term. The reason is the negative connotation attached to the term. However, they need to be aware of the changes that are being made in the policy of health care, so that they can take a stand for what is right. The politics often is played for the political gains and the policies that are made often put the benefits of public aside. The example of the Affordable Care Act is quite pertinent to this case. Since the time the ACA law was passed it (Oliver, 2006) has been a matter of contention that raised the questions about the intergovernmental relations (Rocco, Kelly, & Keller, 2018). For the sake of getting re-elected and to gain political goals, the policy changes are often made ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"ZG7dvL4m","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(CNN, n.d.)","plainCitation":"(CNN, n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":550,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/M7625EGM"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/M7625EGM"],"itemData":{"id":550,"type":"webpage","title":"The tables have turned on health care in 2018","container-title":"CNN","abstract":"No policy decision during former President Barack Obama's first two years contributed more to the Democratic loss of the House of Representatives in 2010 than the party's drive to pass the Affordable Care Act.","URL":"https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/23/politics/election-2018-health-care-aca/index.html","author":[{"family":"CNN","given":"Analysis by Ronald Brownstein"}],"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",6,13]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (CNN, n.d.). These policies do not aim to extend the benefits to the people rather they extract their personal benefits such as getting a majority in the elections etc. In recent times the awareness about the politics of healthcare policies has been intensified ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"qOnvBgZl","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Sommersguter-Reichmann, Wild, Stepan, Reichmann, & Fried, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Sommersguter-Reichmann, Wild, Stepan, Reichmann, & Fried, 2018)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":548,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/FLSQI6LA"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/Tqq4tlqy/items/FLSQI6LA"],"itemData":{"id":548,"type":"article-journal","title":"Individual and Institutional Corruption in European and US Healthcare: Overview and Link of Various Corruption Typologies","container-title":"Applied Health Economics and Health Policy","page":"289-302","volume":"16","issue":"3","source":"Springer Link","abstract":"In recent years, the fight against healthcare corruption has intensified. Estimates from the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network calculate an approximate €56 billion annual loss to Europe as a result of corruption. To promote understanding of the complexity and interconnection of corrupt activities, we aim to present healthcare-related corruption typologies of the European Union and European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network. We subsequently link them to the typology of individual and institutional corruption introduced by Dennis Thompson in the context of investigating misconduct of US Congressional members. According to Thompson, individual corruption is the personal gain of individuals performing duties within an institution in exchange for nurturing private interests, while institutional corruption pertains to the failure of the institution in directing the individual’s behaviour towards the achievement of the institution’s primary purpose because the institutional design promotes the pursuit of individual goals. Effective anti-corruption activities not only require the enactment of anti-corruption laws but also the monitoring and, where appropriate, revision of institutional frameworks to prevent the undermining of the primary purposes of health systems or institutions. To gain further understanding of the similarities and differences of the three typologies, prime examples of corrupt activities in the health sector in the European Union and USA (along with their potential remedies) are provided. Linking corruption cases to Thompson’s typology revealed that many corrupt activities may show elements of both individual and institutional corruption because they are intertwined, partly overlap and may occur jointly. Hence, sanctioning individual actors only does not target the problem.","DOI":"10.1007/s40258-018-0386-6","ISSN":"1179-1896","title-short":"Individual and Institutional Corruption in European and US Healthcare","journalAbbreviation":"Appl Health Econ Health Policy","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Sommersguter-Reichmann","given":"Margit"},{"family":"Wild","given":"Claudia"},{"family":"Stepan","given":"Adolf"},{"family":"Reichmann","given":"Gerhard"},{"family":"Fried","given":"Andrea"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018",6,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Sommersguter-Reichmann, Wild, Stepan, Reichmann, & Fried, 2018). In the present age, I believe that there is a need for the health care staff and the nurses to be aware of the health care policies so they know their rights and in future, they can resist anything that goes otherwise. In the end, I would like to say that the points that you have raised Pamela are valid and are grounded on facts.

References

CNN, A. by R. B. (n.d.). The tables have turned on health care in 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2019, from CNN website: https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/23/politics/election-2018-health-care-aca/index.html

Oliver, T. R. (2006). The politics of public health policy. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 195–233. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.25.101802.123126

Rocco, P., Kelly, A. S., & Keller, A. C. (2018). Politics at the Cutting Edge: Intergovernmental Policy Innovation in the Affordable Care Act. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 48(3), 425–453. https://doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjy010

Sommersguter-Reichmann, M., Wild, C., Stepan, A., Reichmann, G., & Fried, A. (2018). Individual and Institutional Corruption in European and US Healthcare: Overview and Link of Various Corruption Typologies. Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 16(3), 289–302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40258-018-0386-6