May 30, | nursing, med, NURS, Paper
Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper
Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper
This assignment is an analysis of local, state, or federal health policy.
1.Select a state health policy reform innovation
2.Discuss the rationale for the policy, how it was adopted (e.g., federal waivers, passage by state legislature), the funding structure, and (to the extent statistical data are available) its impact. ethical outcome based on evidence.
3.Examples of state innovations include Maryland’s hospital rate setting, Vermont’s single payer system, and Massachusetts’ health reforms
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Submission Requirements:
The paper is to be formatted per current APA style, 5 pages in length, excluding the title, abstract and references page. Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper.
Incorporate a minimum of 5 current (published within last five years) scholarly journal articles or primary legal sources (statutes, court opinions) within your work.
Journal articles and books should be referenced according to current APA style.
Policy analysis
Policy continues to play a key role in how the government responds to the health agenda. However, like any other political objective, health policy in the USA continued to remain in continuous flux such that policies that initially received much political support facing considerable opposition later on in time, with the reverse being equally true. This state of flux is exemplified by Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was enacted in 2010 and still remains operation. But from its inception, ACA has had considerable support and has faced strong opposition. Currently, Congress must decide on how to proceed with the debate. They have the option of eliminating ACA and replacing it with a different health policy or revising ACA with a focus on the contentious aspects of the legislation to make it more acceptable to a wider political audience (Tripati, 2018). The present paper analyzes ACA as a health policy and the polarizing debates surrounding the legislation. Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper.
ACA was conceptualized as a policy that enabled the government to increase the number of Americans with health insurance (uninsured Americans were 47 million at the time the bill was passed) through making health insurance more affordable and expanding access to care. The legislation achieved these objectives through expanding Medicaid eligibility and creating new market places where Americans who previous did not have health insurance could acquire coverage directly from insurers. In fact, it expanded insurance coverage in three ways. Firstly, it expanded Medicaid through broader Medicaid eligibility to include Americans who earned up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Secondly, present opportunities for small insurers to take up the slack from large insurers through targeting employers with less than 51 personnel. Thirdly, offering premium subsidies to buy health insurance coverage for persons who earned less than 401% above the federal poverty level. In addition, ACA mandated new approaches that sought to improve health care quality and reduce costs; including reducing costs for some experimental delivery models and Medicare services (Tripati, 2018).
Since its enactment and operationalization, ACA has improved health care in the USA. First, it has reduced the number of uninsured Americans. Despite rollout problems, ACA has enabled a sizeable number of previously uninsured Americans to obtain coverage. Statistics indicated that 22.8 million Americans registered for new insurance between 2013 and 2015 while 5.9 million lost health insurance coverage. The total number of uninsured Americans was reported at 25.8 million, down from 42.7 million. Secondly, it offers an effective incentive for enrollment through mandating that most adults must be covered, with failures subjected to fines interpreted as lawfully imposed taxes. Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper. Thirdly, it helped in stabilizing the insurance marketplace through offering tax credits that helped low-incomes earners to buy insurance coverage. Fourthly, it reduces the payments made to providers through cost containment strategies that cuts the money that medical providers receive from Medicare to reduce spend over growth reported for Medicare. Fifthly, it has facilitated health care cost containment, although not taking into accounted the reduced coverage by insurers, higher drug prices, higher out of pocket costs, and recession. Sixthly, it has improved health care quality through creating new government entities, commissions, boards and agencies that are responsible for managing health care practice, although this has attracted regulatory compliance costs. Finally, it has shifted health care away from care based on volume of services towards care based on value. Overall, ACA has three objectives. The first objective is to reduce health care costs, improve care quality, and reduce the number of uninsured Americans (Glassman, Giedion & Smith, 2017). Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper.
Despite being the most monumental change in health care policy in the USA since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, ACA implementation has been marked by unexpected twists and turns, and controversies that include delays in key provisions and court challenges. In fact, since its enactment, ACA has been associated with numerous claims concerning its success and failures from those who support and oppose it. The views expressed in these debates have been sensational and colored the political persuasion. A point that these debates often overlook is that there is a distinction between health care access and affordability. Health care insurance is a financial mechanism that facilitates health care affordability while access refers to the actual process of getting the required care. ACA has been instrumental in narrowing the gap between health care access and affordability, an overall trend that overlooks some cases to the contrary. To be more precise, it has made insurance available for an additional 20 million Americans who previously did not have insurance. This information often overlooks the fact that as more people receive insurance, there are 6 million Americans who previously had insurance but lost coverage in the ACA regime. Besides that, the increase in insurance coverage has largely been reported in Medicaid expansion at 13 million to imply that middle and working class Americans (constituting 40% of the American population) have not received much support, especially those who earn more than 400% above the federal poverty level. The result is that health care access has been uneven with the Americans enrolled in Medicaid hindered by narrow networks while those not enrolled in Medicaid facing high out of pocket costs (Belland, Rocco & Waddan, 2016).
It is clear that ACA has results in a net rise in the number of insured Americans, mainly through expanding Medicaid. The cost reductions associated with ACA remain arguable achievements while care quality appears not to have improved. Also, diminished health care access has been reported. With a new American president, ACA is facing critical analysis that takes a renewed look at its actual gains and losses. Some of the legislators in Congress are pushing for ACA to be revised to address its shortcomings while others are calling for the legislation to be repealed and replaced. This has resulted in many proposals being presented to improve, repair, replace or repeal ACA (Geyman, 2018). Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper
Regardless of how the political debate proceeds and the decisions made by Congress, the results are likely to have far reaching consequences. Replacing ACA implies that the 251.6 million Americans with health insurance (as well as the 26 million Americans without insurance) face an uncertain future. The number of insured Americans would drop to 231.9 million if ACA is repealed but not replaced. Average out of pocket costs would also increase by $4,200. This decision would also eliminate the revenue programs under ACA and increase the federal deficit by $33.1 billion every year. Replacing ACA with a single payer plan would increase federal spending by $1 trillion and national spending by $435 while ensuring that all American have insurance coverage, although undocumented immigrants would not enjoy this privilege. Replacing ACA with the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would reduce enrollment for insurance by 14 million and increase federal deficit by $38 billion. Repealing ACA with no replacement would result in 12 million lacking insurance coverage with enrollment declining by 25% most of whom would be healthy and young Americans (Geyman, 2018). Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper
As the political debate continues over how to handle ACA and policy makers weight their options ahead, it is evident that political tensions exist that extend to their objectives. For instance; should they reduce costs and federal deficit, or expand coverage to ensure that all Americans can access high quality care; should they preserve choices among most patients who may not require comprehensive coverage, or protect the sickest Americans who require the most expensive health care; and minimize cost by shifting it to the states and consumers or limit the cost liability for the federal government. Making decisions about these options or striking a balance across the options will involve value and political calculation about what they intend the American health care system to look like in terms of key objectives.
References
Belland, D., Rocco, P. & Waddan, A. (2016). Obamacare Wars: Federalism, State Politics, and the Affordable Care Act. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper
Geyman, J. (2018). Crisis In U.S. Health Care: Corporate Power Vs. The Common Good. New York, NY: Copernicus Healthcare
Glassman, A., Giedion, U. & Smith, P. (eds.) (2017). What’s In, What’s Out: Designing Benefits for Universal Health Coverage. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.
Tripati, A. K. (2018). Obamacare Trumpcare Explained: Obamacare-Trumpcare Pro’s and Con’s. New York, NY: SureShot Books Publishing LLC. Local, State, or Federal Health Policy Analysis Paper
May 30, | nursing, med, NURS, Paper
Critical Race Theory Essay
Critical Race Theory Essay
Students will write a 6 to 8-page analytical paper discussing Critical Race Theory (CRT). Utilizing
original source material written by at least three CRT proponents, students will communicate the
main ideas informing the theory. They will then critique the theory, exploring both pros and cons
of the theory for use in and by individual Christians, churches, and various ministries engaging in
the work of racial reconciliation and justice. Students should utilize Scripture to critique the theory
biblically, as well as various authors speaking for or against CRT’s usefulness/appropriateness. A
rubric will be provided in Canvas to guide students’ preparation and writing.
Analysis of Critical Race Theory
Many Christians may not be familiar with the phrase critical theory – yet it determines much of what they see and hear in modern society. Social sciences such as transgender, queer, feminist, and ethnic studies are linked to this theory. Notably, the theory is widespread in the contemporary debate surrounding race. For instance, terms like white privilege, social justice, critical race theory, and wokeness are part of the critical theory. Furthermore, since the hypothesis impacts many issues in contemporary theological and political discourse, Christians must comprehend it from a biblical outlook. Further, several state laws have limited or banned the teaching of critical theory in K-12 classes (Morgan, 2022) Critical Race Theory Essay. Thus, this paper will examine the central tenets of critical theory. Also, it will critique the theory and examine the pros and cons for utilization by Christians and churches.
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Critical Race Theory
The critical race theory (CRT) is among the many types of critical studies. Further, while critical race theory initially tried to examine the issue of Black Americans in America, it has been partitioned into various branches like Asian and Latino critical race studies. The theory initially started in the 1970s and 1980s as a lobby for legal scholarship, and it materialized out of the civil rights crusade and critical legal education (Ladson-Billings, 2020). This legal education contends that the law is intrinsically discriminatory and cannot be split from social and political matters. It presumes that people who develop legislation do so in a manner that favors the privileged and hurts the underprivileged. Moreover, the developers of this critical race theory used critical legal education since they wanted to elucidate why benefits accrued during the civil rights movement were being reversed or stalled. There is no standard denotation of CRT. However, some thinkers explain it as an entity of legal scholarship conceptually devoted to the fight against racism, mainly as institutionalized by law. Notably, the critical race theory can also be elucidated as a social and cognitive movement and generally organized structure of legal evaluation founded on the supposition that race is not an innate, biologically founded component of physically diverse subclasses of humans but a socially constructed categorization that is utilized to persecute and manipulate minorities. In the United States, critical race theorists contend that racism is intrinsic in the law and legal organizations of the nation since they function to design and sustain political, economic, and social imbalances between Whites and minorities, mainly African Americans.
Central Tenets of Critical Race Theory
There is no deficit of declarations about this theory about what it teaches or not. Further, while no single cluster of philosophical thinkers will agree, there are central tenets that many proponents of the theory comply with.
The first premise is the ordinariness of racism. This premise contends that racism is typical, not an irregularity. Further, many believe that racism emerges in an individual’s actions and thoughts now and again. Still, the critical race theory asserts that racism infiltrates all societal structures such that it mutates into a mode by which people function. Hence, racism is challenging to tackle or rectify since it is unseen.
The second tenet is interest convergence, which means that white individuals will only champion minorities’ civil rights that serve their concerns. For instance, Derrick Bell contends that the historical case Brown v. Board of Education was because it correlated with the white aristocracy’s inclination to foster democracy overseas and the South’s awareness that discrimination would impede its long-standing economic growth.
The social construction of race is the third tenet. According to Delgado & Stefancic. (2023), this tenet claims that race and race resulted from social associations and thought. Further, society accepts that specific groups of individuals share particular physical attributes like hair texture and skin color. Also, overemphasizing these inconsiderable variations over more prominent ones like intelligence and personality portrays race as a social construct instead of a biological actuality. Besides this concept comes the idea of differential racialization, which examines how superior societal groups progress their concerns by racializing particular minority communities by creating popular imagery and stereotypes Critical Race Theory Essay.
The last tenet is intersectionality, a phrase conceived by Kimberle Crenshaw, a formative thinker in the critical race theory crusade. It explains how individuals can encounter unique types of persecution or privilege grounded on an amalgamation of numerous facets and identities like class, race, sexual orientation, and gender (Coaston, 2019). For instance, a black female may encounter unique oppression from the amalgamated disadvantages of being a woman and black. Nonetheless, if the female was non-disabled, from upper-middle-class, and heterosexual, she might experience privilege. Delgado & Stefancic. (2023) assert that everybody has potentially overlapping, conflicting allegiances, loyalties, and identities.
Critique through Biblical Scriptures (Pros and Cons)
Critical race theory accurately identifies the actuality of evil and repression (Zechariah 7:9-10), actuality and abuse of supremacy authority (Ephesians 6:12), and the significance of listening to the experiences of others (Proverbs 18:13).
Furthermore, ideologies like intersectionality and convergence bear some integrity to them. With interest convergence, society understands that individuals are sinful and often do good deeds for others due to egocentric incentives (Matthew 6: 1-3). Furthermore, with intersectionality, the theory rightly recognizes that individuals can simultaneously see others via many lenses and treat them wrongfully. For example, the Samaritan woman was belittled because of being a Samaritan, having five past husbands, and being a woman.
Principally, the critical race theory has compelled people to consider American history. Much of the deliberations about whether the theory should be incorporated into the school curriculum revolve around how American history will be taught. Further, Christians must be honest and truthful (Ephesians 4:15, Psalm 32:2). Conventionally, multiple of the United States’ horrid past with slavery and racism have been disparaged or incorrectly depicted, which is wrong. Instead, American society must accept past misdeeds and deal with them honestly by teaching facts. Simultaneously, it is vital to note that teaching history is challenging without a complementing story that connects all facts.
Further, while the critical race theory can draw people’s consciousness to multiple essential challenges and issues, it also possesses some cons. For instance, the theory’s explanation of racism is controversial. Further, the Bible undeniably tackles racism as a demonstration of portraying discrimination (James 2:1-9, Acts 10:34-35), failing to love neighbors (Luke 10: 25-37), and hatred (1 John 4:20-21). Nonetheless, much of the critical race theory’s scholarship is postulated on the notion that material discrepancies seen along racial lines are due to racism. Moreover, while people should embrace multiple ways in which past and present misdeeds lead to racial inconsistencies or other brutalities, making an instant connection between racism and inequality is shallow.
In addition, since the critical race theory delineates from postmodernism, it depicts minorities’ lived encounters as a powerful origin of truth. Also, it is essential to listen to one another’s lived encounters because it assists in making people knowledgeable of existing blind spots in how people think. Nevertheless, if the lived encounter is viewed as the top source of understanding, this subverts the power and adequacy of God’s word as the ultimate mediator of integrity (2 Timothy 3: 16-17). This becomes evident if the sincerities delineated from lived encounters were to dispute with the Bible.
Moreover, the critical race theory highlights group identities and racial variations on balance. From one perspective, part of the aim of this theory is to delineate awareness of how race plays a critical function in society and can proceed incognito by the superior culture. On the other hand, the theory can filter everything via group or racial identities. Thus, focusing on group recognition goes against the biblical story, which portrays humanity as elementally consolidated. People are consolidated in creation, being designed in the Lord’s image (Gen 1:26-27) and possessing a standard lineage to Adam, the first man (Acts 17:26) Critical Race Theory Essay. Further, people are consolidated in their sinfulness and their demand for forgiveness in Christ and Jesus, they possess unity, faith, and unity that surpasses group distinctiveness (Colossians 1: 19-23).
Lastly, the theory is excessively cynical of individuals’ stimulations and racial advances that have been accomplished. As earlier stated, interest convergence possesses some honesty to it. However, Christians are directed not to be selfish (Philippians 2:3-4). Notably, even if a person possesses aspirations, if they achieve authentic good, people should celebrate the good that is achieved.
Political and Academic Criticism of CRT
Several facets of this theory have been disparaged by jurists and legal scholars across the political gamut. Most commentators have faulted the theory for acknowledging a disconnected, post-modernist-inspired uncertainty of truth and objectivity. Further, others contend that critical race theorists undervalue the conventional liberal epitomes of fairness, equality, and neutrality in the law and legal processes and immoderately decline the idea of objective norms of excellence in public and private employment and academia, instead, explaining racial imbalance or inequity in economic, academic, or legal results as evidence of institutional racism and as reasons for directly instigating racially impartial results in those spheres. Additionally, proponents of this theory have been charged with unjustly considering any external censure of their perspective, however well-meaning.
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Implications of the Theory
This theory possesses significant inferences for several facets of society, mainly in social justice and law. For instance, the theory provokes conventional comprehension of the legal system, spotlighting its function in preserving racial discrepancies. Further, the hypothesis calls for a crucial assessment of judicial resolutions, policies, and laws via a racial justice mirror. In addition, the theory acts as a structure for social justice activism, fostering advocacy for minority communities. It encourages collaborative action to tackle systemic racism and imbalance.
Conclusion
In various ways, critical race theory is the best elucidation that worldly human rationality can generate apart from comprehending the gospel and sin. It can correctly outline some of the actualities of living in a ruptured world contaminated with sin. Society is full of sinful individuals (Romans 3:23), and some may continue to use race as a sinning technique against others. Conversely, the critical race theory can be superficial in recognizing race, and other group recognitions will fundamentally further segregation instead of unification. Moreover, Christians can embrace genuine observations that the theory makes without accepting the belief framework or narrative that follows it.
References
Coaston, J. (2019). The intersectionality wars. Vox.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2023). Critical race theory: An introduction (Vol. 87). NyU press.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2020). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education? In Critical race theory in education (pp. 9-26). Routledge.
Morgan, H. (2022). Resisting the movement to ban critical race theory from schools. The clearinghouse: a journal of educational strategies, issues, and ideas, 95(1), 35-41.
Solórzano, D. G. (2021). Critical race theory’s intellectual roots: My email epistolary with Derrick Bell. In Handbook of Critical Race Theory in Education (pp. 44-61). Routledge Critical Race Theory Essay.
