Healthcare Issue-Agenda Comparison Grid
Healthcare Issue-Agenda Comparison Grid
Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet
Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid
| President Trump Healthcare Agenda | President Obama Healthcare Agenda | President Bush Healthcare Agenda | |
| Agenda | Trump’s healthcare reform agenda was to eliminate Obamacare because it is costly for Americans. It is too costly for American families and the deductibles have made healthcare insurance unaffordable for them. To resolve this, Trump seeks to put seniors first by strengthening the Medicare program, increasing the freedoms for Medicare patients and ending surprise billing that is a common feature with Obamacare. The president reaffirms that those with pre-existing conditions and seniors will be the focus of the reforms. | The goal of Obamacare was to make healthcare more affordable to Americans, especially those in the lower income groups. The reforms included improved access to care by eliminating the annual and lifetime limits on insurance coverage, expanded Medicaid to cover those previously ineligible, established a rule for Americans to pay a fee for insurance, among other reforms (Amadeo, 2020). | The main agenda was to improve medical care by adding prescription drug benefits for Americans, hence, reducing the medical care burdens. The administration reduced the costs of preventive screening programs, stabilized private plan options for Americans through Medicare Advantage program. |
| Focus population | The focus of Trump’s administration is the seniors and American citizens. | A particular focus for Obama was the opioid and heroin addicts. The government enacted the 21 Century Cures Act to fund the proposal to combat opioid epidemic (Amadeo, 2020). | The focus was the veterans who served in the army and expanded veteran medical facilities by committing about $6 billion for resources (White House Archives, 2020). |
| Financial Allocations | $1 billion for Alzheimer’s disease since it is a condition that mainly afflicts the senior population. | $1 billion | $6 billion (White House Archives, 2020) |
| Presidential approach | Trump provides patients with more plan choices and empowers them to spend more time with providers through telehealth services. The focus is on the senior population.Healthcare Issue-Agenda Comparison Grid | In addition to making healthcare more affordable through expanded Medicaid programs, the 21st Century Cures Act committed $1 billion to combat opioid epidemic and introduce mental health reforms such as suicide prevention and mental health parity protections. | President Bush committed $6 billion to increase the medical care for veterans, created a program that caters to injured veterans, expanded the mental health resources available to servicemen, and committed an additional $1 billion to cater for veterans with brain injuries. |
Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis
The main issue that all administrations addressed was affordability of drugs and general medical services through insurance plans provided by the federal government. Of the three administrations, I find that Obama’s best addressed the affordability issue through expansion of Medicaid and Medicare programs. Trump argues that Obamacare burdens Americans; however, Obamacare has had more benefits for Americans and included those from the lower socioeconomic classes in these healthcare reforms. Obamacare is inclusive and reflects true Americanism, as opposed to Trump’s reforms which seek to be exclusive especially to immigrants; considering his focus is on Americans first.
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The issue of healthcare affordability can be set as an agenda for the current administration through lobbying. The most effective to ensure that healthcare affordability is an agenda is to prepare a policy and lobby for it through Congresspersons. The policy making process is a great approach where the influencers draft a bill, seek for support through lobbying and approaching the influential congresspersons to ensure it is passed into a bill or considered as part of an important agenda (Araral et al., 2017). To ensure that this issue stays on the agenda, it is necessary to have influential congresspersons on board, and strive to show the advantages of the issue when implemented.
I would choose senators and congressmen passionate about health reforms and inclusivity in America as the sponsors of the policy to address the healthcare issue of medical care affordability. I would approach the politicians passionate about immigrant and race issues because they constantly address issues such as systemic racism and oppression, and how to be an inclusive and just society. Therefore, approaching them to fund the policy would be ideal considering the healthcare affordability issue advances their inclusion and social justice agenda.
Part 3: Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief
I believe that medical care affordability should be the government’s focus, where it strives to achieve complete universal healthcare. I believe that every human being is entitled to healthcare services, and as long as they pay tax, they should access healthcare whenever afflicted by medical conditions. I find it dehumanizing for one to suffer from disease to death, which is avoidable if only one can access medical care. Medical care in America is expensive and people rely on insurance for affordability. While I acknowledge that medical care is costly, I believe that Americans equally pay costly taxes, which should be used to ease their medical cost burdens. Therefore, I find it important to push the agenda of healthcare affordability through various reforms such as reducing drug costs, admission costs, and mental healthcare costs for Americans.
Nurses have a role to play in setting agenda for healthcare issues. One of the roles is to develop awareness about the issues that affect patients, and document how they affect them. It is necessary to have empirical evidence that supports the need for a change or healthcare reform (Arabi et al., 2014). Therefore, the nurse should develop awareness about changes required in the healthcare system through their practice and interaction with patients and healthcare administrators. Their empirical input in agenda setting is valuable because of its practicability.Healthcare Issue-Agenda Comparison Grid
Healthcare Bill
The Affordable Health Care for America Act, also referred to as the HR 3962 was bill drafted by the House of Representatives under the Obama administration to enhance the healthcare sector in the United States through provisions such as prohibition of insurers from refusing coverage of patients with medical histories, repealing the exemption of insurance companies from anti-trust laws, requiring that employers provide their employees with coverage or be surtaxed 8% of the worker’s wage, restricting coverage on abortion, among other provisions. This bill was however, not drafted into law as the Senate passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 as an alternative healthcare bill.
Position on the Bill
I would advocate for this bill because of the various advantages it would provide for the regular Americans, especially those from the lower socioeconomic class, because they would access quality medical care at affordable prices. I would support this bill because it reduces exploitation of American citizens from healthcare insurers who continuously charge excess fees, and deny coverage to individual with pre-existing conditions. I believe that as long as someone pays their premiums, they should access coverage despite their existing medical conditions. Perhaps the better approach is for insurance companies to charge additional premiums for those with pre-existing conditions, as opposed to entirely denying them coverage. Overall, this bill brings more advantages to patients, and reduces unethical exploitation through controls introduced in the healthcare market.
Addressing Opponent
The following are the points I would share with my opponent who opposes this bill:Healthcare Issue-Agenda Comparison Grid
The bill promotes worker equality and fair treatment from their employers because they law requires that employers provide their workers with healthcare coverage or surtax them their employees wages up to 8%. The bill would also benefit Americans by protecting them from the expensive healthcare market plans which most times, deny them coverage when they present with pre-existing conditions. The bill also provides a subsidy for the low-income Americans to help them buy quality insurance plans. Everyone deserves to live a healthy live. Affording quality healthcare is important to achieve this. Therefore, I believe that this bill offers advantages only, considering the benefits that Americans would realize from the enactment of this bill into law.
References
Amadeo, K. (2020). How Insurance Companies Changed Obama’s Healthcare Reform Plan. Retrieved 6 September 2020, from https://www.thebalance.com/obama-s-health-care-reform-plan-3305753
Arabi, A., Rafii, F., Cheraghi, M. A., & Ghiyasvandian, S. (2014). Nurses’ policy influence: A concept analysis. Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research, 19(3), 315–322.
Araral, E., Fritzen, S., Howlett, M., Ramesh, M., & Wu, X. (2017). Routledge handbook of public policy. Cengage.
White House Archives. (2020). THE BUSH RECORD – FACT SHEET: President Bush Has Kept America Safe. Retrieved 6 September 2020, from https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/bushrecord/factsheets/healthcare.html Healthcare Issue-Agenda Comparison Grid
