Nursing Policy and Advocacy Essay Paper

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.

Consider for example that the number one job of a legislator is to be reelected. Cost can be measured in votes as well as dollars. Thus, it is important to consider the legislator’s perspective on either promoting or not promoting a certain initiative in the political landscape.

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.
By Day 3 of Week 3
Post an explanation for how you think the cost-benefit analysis in terms of legislators being reelected affected efforts to repeal/replace the ACA. Then, explain how analyses of the votes views may affect decisions by legislative leaders in recommending or positioning national policies (e.g., Congress’ decisions impacting Medicare or Medicaid). Remember, the number one job of a legislator is to be re-elected. Please check your discussion grading rubric to ensure your responses meet the criteria.

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Nursing policy and advocacy

Regardless of personal opinions, politicians are concerned about reelection will typically pander to the needs of their electorate. In this case, a concern presents when the interests of the legislator are in competition with the interests of the majority of the electorate. In such cases, the politician would understand that addressing personal interests would cause discontent among the majority of the electorate, resulting in negative political reviews and loss of support. Nursing Policy and Advocacy Essay Paper  On other hand, addressing the interests of the electorate would result in personal interests being ignored creating some form of hypocrisy, a discomfiting situation for principled politicians (Milstead & Short, 2019). This is a state of affairs that has become all too common with regards to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The legislation has received much political interest with the repeal and replace proposals benefiting some segments of the population while harming other segments. In this case, politicians seeking to maximize their opportunities for reelection will identify and present the most population opinions among their electorate. As such, legislators apply a cost-benefit analysis to determine their political opinions, opting to champion agendas that will garner them the most political support. Their decisions are rationalized by the fact that they are part of a democratic society in which political power is derived from support by the electorate (Ember, C. & Ember, M., 2011). Should the agenda be one that engenders strong personal opinion, then the politician would attempt to convince the electorate to support a certain opinion. Irrespective of whether they can convince the electorate to support an agenda, they must always support agendas that are in line with the majority opinions of their electorate. This implies that regardless of the political agenda, personal opinions, and party directives, politicians seeking reelection will first consider the opinions of their electorate before considering other opinions (Porche, 2017).

References

Ember, C. & Ember, M. (2011). Cultural anthropology (13^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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

Porche, D. (2017). Health policy: application for nurses and other health professionals (2^nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.  Nursing Policy and Advocacy Essay Paper