The Policy Process Essay

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To prepare for this assignment, review the key components of the health care policy process in Ch. 3 of Health policymaking in the United States. Additionally, Chapters 5-9 of the course text are also excellent resources for each stage of the policy process. Here is a breakdown of what you can find in each chapter of Longest (2016):
Chapter 5: Formulation
Chapter 6: Legislation
Chapter 7: Implementation
Chapter 8: Implementation/Analysis/Evaluation
Chapter 9: Analysis/Evaluation and Revision

The policy cycle provides lawmakers with a pathway for developing a policy and guiding it through the institutions of our government. The cycle starts with identification of a targeted problem and ultimately ends up with providing a specific course of action. Along the way, the outcomes of a policy are subjected to various levels of review, evaluation, and revisions that result in a continual loop. As a health care administrator, it’s important to have a working knowledge of the process and how the process ultimately

leads to implementation of health care laws that eventually will have an impact on what you do.Write a 800- to 1,050-word paper that explains the policy process and explains how the Affordable Care Act advanced through the policy process stages. Your paper must include the following:1.Discuss five stages of the policy process identified in Longest (2016)–at least 100-150 words to describe each stage:
Formulation
Legislation
Implementation
Evaluation/analysis,
Revision
2.Explain how the Affordable Care Act advanced through each stage of the policy process
How the law was formed/proposed and then passed by Congress
How it has been implemented and what agencies primarily implement the law
One or two ways the ACA can be evaluated
List at least one revision to the law since it has been passed

Cite at least 3 reputable references. One of your sources must be the course textbook, Longest (2016). Reputable references include trade or industry publications, government or agency websites, scholarly works a textbook, or other sources of similar quality.

The Policymaking Process
Public policy refers to the actions taken by government — its decisions that are intended to solve problems and improve the quality of life for its citizens. At the federal level, public policies are enacted to regulate industry and business, to protect citizens at home and abroad, to aid state and city governments and people such as the poor through funding programs, and to encourage social goals.
A policy established and carried out by the government goes through several stages from inception to conclusion. These are agenda building, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation, and termination.

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Agenda building
Before a policy can be created, a problem must exist that is called to the attention of the government. Illegal immigration, for example, has been going on for many years, but it was not until the 1990s that enough people considered it such a serious problem that it required increased government action. Another example is crime. American society tolerates a certain level of crime; however, when crime rises dramatically or is perceived to be rising dramatically, it becomes an issue for policymakers to address. Specific events can place a problem on the agenda. The flooding of a town near a river raises the question of whether homes should be allowed to be built in a floodplain. New legislation on combating terrorism (the USA Patriot Act, for example) was a response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Formulation and adoption
Policy formulation means coming up with an approach to solving a problem. Congress, the executive branch, the courts, and interest groups may be involved. Contradictory proposals are often made. The president may have one approach to immigration reform, and the opposition-party members of Congress may have another. Policy formulation has a tangible outcome: A bill goes before Congress or a regulatory agency drafts proposed rules. The process continues with adoption. A policy is adopted when Congress passes legislation, the regulations become final, or the Supreme Court renders a decision in a case.

Implementation
The implementation or carrying out of policy is most often accomplished by institutions other than those that formulated and adopted it. A statute usually provides just a broad outline of a policy. For example, Congress may mandate improved water quality standards, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides the details on those standards and the procedures for measuring compliance through regulations. As noted earlier, the Supreme Court has no mechanism to enforce its decisions; other branches of government must implement its determinations. Successful implementation depends on the complexity of the policy, coordination between those putting the policy into effect, and compliance. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education is a good example. The justices realized that desegregation was a complex issue; however, they did not provide any guidance on how to implement it “with all deliberate speed.” Here, implementation depended upon the close scrutiny of circuit and appeals court judges, as well as local and state school board members who were often reluctant to push social change.

Evaluation and termination
Evaluation means determining how well a policy is working, and it is not an easy task. People inside and outside of government typically use cost-benefit analysis to try to find the answer. In other words, if the government is spending x billions of dollars on this policy, are the benefits derived from it worth the expenditure? Cost-benefit analysis is based on hard-to-come-by data that are subject to different, and sometimes contradictory, interpretations.

History has shown that once implemented, policies are difficult to terminate. When they are terminated, it is usually because the policy became obsolete, clearly did not work, or lost its support among the interest groups and elected officials that placed it on the agenda in the first place. In 1974, for example, Congress enacted a national speed limit of 55 miles per hour. It was effective in reducing highway fatalities and gasoline consumption. On the other hand, the law increased costs for the trucking industry and was widely viewed as an unwarranted federal intrusion into an area that belonged to the states to regulate. The law was repealed in 1987.

Part II: The Policy Process Part I of the policy process involves, the formulation phase, the evaluation or legislation phase, and the implementation phase. The formulation phase is the stage where the all the information, ideas, concepts, and researches from various people, organizations, and interest groups are taken. The legislation or evaluation process is defined as the stage where deliberations, discussions, debates, and justifications are done. The implementation phase is when the adopted policy is acted upon (Abood, 2007). All public policies that are amended by the local, state, or federal…show more content…
Many policy makers do this by setting goals or objectives within a 30 – 60 -90 day window. Once again information is given in feedback form to the policy makers and over time the data and information is kept in order to review and analyze at a later date. The analysis can be done in many ways one way indicated is by comparing the feedback to a policy already existing. Look at the feedback and determine the positive and negative as it affects the majority of the people as a whole. The thing to remember in the analysis stage is just like dealing with computers and important data or a training and determine how effective the over all training was. Policies are no different, it is necessary to ensure the policy is a positive for all people involved. Same with the negative aspects of the policy, information and feedback are given and gathered in the same manner. It is at this point all information can be viewed in order to determine the pros and cons. Of course if the pros are greater, the policy will more than likely be continued, however if the cons prevail the policy will more than likely be removed. All of this is part of the analysis stage of the policy process. Policy analysis is the way to provide a reality check and