Introduction
The most important role of government is ensuring that public policy is reflective of the needs of Americans. Good public policy guides our society in a direction that will improve the lives of Americans. However, policy that is developed without concerns of the potential impacts on Americans can have disastrous effects. More important than the policy response to a problem, is the definition of the problem itself. The definition of the problem could aid a policy entrepreneur in passing legislation or constrain their efforts. This often results in legislation that simply addresses the symptoms of a problem rather than fixing the actual problem. Using John Kingdon’s model, I will analyze two cases, Medicare Catastrophic Coverage …show more content…
Problems, which are socially constructed, are conditions that are perceived as solvable whereas conditions are external events that we encounter in our everyday lives. It is important for political actors to correctly identify problems and their causes so that the existing understandings of an issue can be challenged. For instance in the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage case, gaps in Medicare coverage left elderly Americans vulnerable to catastrophic illness. However, political actors realized the flaws in Medicare coverage and decided that it was the governments’ responsibility to solve this problem. Comparably, political actors involved in the Orphan drug act case realized that the lack of financial incentives for pharmaceuticals were responsible for the absence of medication for rare diseases in the United States. The prominent issues in both of the cases were caused by government failure, for legislator’s inability to foresee these issues in future, and market failure, whereas the healthcare system deemed what was and was not profitable at the expense of Americans. In fact, many problems related to public health are often derived from market and government failure. Nonetheless, political actors in both cases felt that the problem was solvable which aided them greatly in framing the problem and creating a suitable …show more content…
Budgets for instance can force an item higher on a governmental agenda or can even force a problem off of the agenda if the cost of fixing the problem is more than the government is willing to spare. In the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage case, deliberation over how the government could afford to expand Medicare without adding to the federal deficit was the major issue in passing Medicare expansion legislation. Legislators had to find creative ways to get elderly Americans the benefits they need without risking a veto from the president. The resulting legislation was step in right direction. However, it did not actually solve the problem. In fact the Medicare Catastrophic case is a classic example of how political actors developed a solution without fully exploring all of the causes. The rising cost of healthcare was the blame for the extreme financial burden that both the government and the elderly had to bare. Legislators only focused their attention on expanding Medicare rather than regulating the healthcare system. Therefore, elderly Americans did not receive the protection that they needed the most which was coverage for long term
The most important role of government is ensuring that public policy is reflective of the needs of Americans. Good public policy guides our society in a direction that will improve the lives of Americans. However, policy that is developed without concerns of the potential impacts on Americans can have disastrous effects. More important than the policy response to a problem, is the definition of the problem itself. The definition of the problem could aid a policy entrepreneur in passing legislation or constrain their efforts. This often results in legislation that simply addresses the symptoms of a problem rather than fixing the actual problem. Using John Kingdon’s model, I will analyze two cases, Medicare Catastrophic Coverage …show more content…
Problems, which are socially constructed, are conditions that are perceived as solvable whereas conditions are external events that we encounter in our everyday lives. It is important for political actors to correctly identify problems and their causes so that the existing understandings of an issue can be challenged. For instance in the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage case, gaps in Medicare coverage left elderly Americans vulnerable to catastrophic illness. However, political actors realized the flaws in Medicare coverage and decided that it was the governments’ responsibility to solve this problem. Comparably, political actors involved in the Orphan drug act case realized that the lack of financial incentives for pharmaceuticals were responsible for the absence of medication for rare diseases in the United States. The prominent issues in both of the cases were caused by government failure, for legislator’s inability to foresee these issues in future, and market failure, whereas the healthcare system deemed what was and was not profitable at the expense of Americans. In fact, many problems related to public health are often derived from market and government failure. Nonetheless, political actors in both cases felt that the problem was solvable which aided them greatly in framing the problem and creating a suitable …show more content…
Budgets for instance can force an item higher on a governmental agenda or can even force a problem off of the agenda if the cost of fixing the problem is more than the government is willing to spare. In the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage case, deliberation over how the government could afford to expand Medicare without adding to the federal deficit was the major issue in passing Medicare expansion legislation. Legislators had to find creative ways to get elderly Americans the benefits they need without risking a veto from the president. The resulting legislation was step in right direction. However, it did not actually solve the problem. In fact the Medicare Catastrophic case is a classic example of how political actors developed a solution without fully exploring all of the causes. The rising cost of healthcare was the blame for the extreme financial burden that both the government and the elderly had to bare. Legislators only focused their attention on expanding Medicare rather than regulating the healthcare system. Therefore, elderly Americans did not receive the protection that they needed the most which was coverage for long term