Hcs 455 the Policy Process: Part I
The Policy Process: Part I
Susan Kunz
HCS 455
July 6, 2011
Rich Jones
The Policy Process: Part I
Patient access to affordable health care is an ongoing issue in the United States. The first portion of the policy process involves three different stages, the formulation stage, legislative stage, and the implementation stage. Three main stages exist in the process to transform a topic into a policy (Morone, J. A., Litman, T. J., & Robins, L.S., 2008). Coupled with the implementation stage is an evaluation of all the stages to determine effectiveness and gather information for use in future public health care policy making. In the formulation stage, the ideas, concepts, and information steam from this process of policy making. The evaluation process is defined as the stage where deliberations, discussions, debates, and justifications are done. The implementation phase occurs when the adopted policy is acted upon (Abood, 2007). In the United States the government finances health care for the elderly, blind, and the disabled with low income and limited resources. With the help of the economy over the years, health care clearly developed into the largest growing health field since 1975 (The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). This paper will focus on the first three portions of how the process takes place within Medicaid.
Formulation Stage
The first stage of the process is the Formulation Stage, which by definition is the “first and often most challenging stage in using formal decision methods (and in decision analysis in particular). The Formulation Stage also includes a lot of extensive research from different individuals, various organizations, and different types of interest groups. The main purpose of the formulation stage is to create a formal example of the given decision,” (Wikipedia, 2010). At this point those individuals over the age of 65 had little to no access to health insurance and other individuals had inadequate health care coverage. The
Susan Kunz
HCS 455
July 6, 2011
Rich Jones
The Policy Process: Part I
Patient access to affordable health care is an ongoing issue in the United States. The first portion of the policy process involves three different stages, the formulation stage, legislative stage, and the implementation stage. Three main stages exist in the process to transform a topic into a policy (Morone, J. A., Litman, T. J., & Robins, L.S., 2008). Coupled with the implementation stage is an evaluation of all the stages to determine effectiveness and gather information for use in future public health care policy making. In the formulation stage, the ideas, concepts, and information steam from this process of policy making. The evaluation process is defined as the stage where deliberations, discussions, debates, and justifications are done. The implementation phase occurs when the adopted policy is acted upon (Abood, 2007). In the United States the government finances health care for the elderly, blind, and the disabled with low income and limited resources. With the help of the economy over the years, health care clearly developed into the largest growing health field since 1975 (The Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). This paper will focus on the first three portions of how the process takes place within Medicaid.
Formulation Stage
The first stage of the process is the Formulation Stage, which by definition is the “first and often most challenging stage in using formal decision methods (and in decision analysis in particular). The Formulation Stage also includes a lot of extensive research from different individuals, various organizations, and different types of interest groups. The main purpose of the formulation stage is to create a formal example of the given decision,” (Wikipedia, 2010). At this point those individuals over the age of 65 had little to no access to health insurance and other individuals had inadequate health care coverage. The
References: Abood, S. (2007). MEDICARE FROM THE START TO TODAY . Retrieved June 6, 2011, from National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare: http://thomas.loc.gov/medicare/history.htm Myers, R. J. (1970) Medicare. Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin. Poen, M. M. (1979) Harry S. Truman Versus the Medical Lobby: The Genesis of Medicare. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press. Morone, J. A., Litman, T. J., & Robins, L. S. (2008). Health politics and policy (4th ed). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning. The Kaiser Family Foundation, Kaiseredu.org. Policy Topics List, June 23, 2010, available at: http://www.kaiseredu.org/topics_index.asp