NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay

NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay

NURS 6050: Policy and Advocacy for Improving Population Health

Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Regardless of political affiliation, individuals often grow concerned when considering perceived competing interests of government and their impact on topics of interest to them. The realm of healthcare is no different. Some people feel that local, state, and federal policies and legislation can be either helped or hindered by interests other than the benefit to society. NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay.

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. Legislators are assumed to be rational and to make cost-benefit calculations when faced with demands for legislation. However, the legislator’s cost-benefit calculations are not the cost-benefits to society of enacting particular legislation. Instead, the benefits are the additional political support the legislator would receive from supporting legislation and the lost political support they would incur as a result of their action. When the benefit to legislators (positive political support) exceeds their costs (negative political support) they will support legislation. (page 27)

Source: Feldstein, P. (2006). The politics of health legislation: An economic perspective (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

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To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and reflect on efforts to repeal/replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
• Consider who benefits the most when policy is developed and in the context of policy implementation.

Post an explanation for how you think the cost-benefit analysis in the statement from page 27 of Feldstein (2006) affected efforts to repeal/replace the ACA. Then, explain how analyses such as the one portrayed by the Feldstein statement may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies (e.g., Congress’ decisions impacting Medicare or Medicaid).

Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus. NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay.

Required Readings

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

• Chapter 3, “Government Response: Legislation” (pp. 37–56)
• Chapter 10, “Overview: The Economics and Finance of Health Care” (pp. 180–183 only)

Congress.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.congress.gov/

Taylor, D., Olshansky, E., Fugate-Woods, N., Johnson-Mallard, V., Safriet, B. J., & Hagan, T. (2017). Corrigendum to position statement: Political interference in sexual and reproductive health research and health professional education. Nursing Outlook, 65(2), 346–350. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2017.05.003

Note: You will access this article from the Walden Library databases.

United States House of Representatives. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.house.gov/

United States Senate. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.senate.gov/

United States Senate. (n.d.). Senate organization chart for the 115th Congress. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.senate.gov/reference/org_chart.htm

Document: Legislation Comparison Grid Template (Word document)

The Affordable Care Act was developed to provide beneficiaries with healthcare services without coinsurance and out-of-pocket costs through the Medicare and Medicaid program (Milstead & Short, 2019). Efforts to repeal the Act are set to benefit various legislators as they seek to satisfy selfish political interests at the expense of the patient’s protection.

The cost benefit analysis claims that the legislator’s calculations during the enactment of particular legislations are no the cost-benefits to society. The efforts to repeal/ replace the ACA were affected by the political loyalties whereby, the Republican Party through the current President Trump sought to replace it with the American Health Care Act. However, they failed to garner enough votes to pass the bill (United States Senate, n.d.). The legislators supporting the ACA repeal were affiliated to the Republican Party whereas those against the repeal hailed from the Democratic Party. The political loyalty and interests of the legislators affect their decision-making whereby they are expected to vote for the betterment of healthcare in the country rather their re-election political ambitions.

Considering the political influences portrayed in the introduction and repeal of policies, it is evident in the Feldstein statement that this may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies. This is because; independent decision making for the betterment of the society is challenged by the need for re-election in political and legislative positions (United States House of Representatives, n.d.). As such, policies are replaced for reasons other than the intended making the majority to suffer under the minority rule. For policies like the ACA, such decisions can result to the increase in out-of-pocket healthcare funding and limited access of healthcare from the crippled universal health coverage. The presidential efforts to manipulate the Congress on multiple occasions also undermine the independent formulation of policies (Congress.gov, n.d.). NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay.

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References

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

Taylor, D., Olshansky, E., Fugate-Woods, N., Johnson-Mallard, V., Safriet, B. J., & Hagan, T. (2017). Corrigendum to position statement: Political interference in sexual and reproductive health research and health professional education. Nursing Outlook, 65(2), 346–350. doi:10.1016/j.outlook.2017.05.003 NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay

United States House of Representatives. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.house.gov/

United States Senate. (n.d.). Senate organization chart for the 115th Congress. Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.senate.gov/reference/org_chart.htm

Congress.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.congress.gov/

United States Senate. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2018, from https://www.senate.gov/ NURS 6050 Discussion: Politics and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Essay