Overview
It is common knowledge that vulnerable populations such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and racial minorities are faced with unique health care needs that require constant medications to enhance the people’s wellbeing and longevity (Vanderbilt et al., 2013). However, these population groups often struggle to pay for their medications and some are forced to cut back on prescribed medications to save money, resulting in increased risk for disease entrenchment and suboptimal treatment outcomes (Freedman & Spillman, 2004).
Drawing from these concerns, the proposed bill (Extra Rx Help) seeks to structure Medicare in such a way that it can utilize its buying power to negotiate with pharmaceutical firms for lower prices and hence ensure continuous drug coverage for vulnerable populations. This letter serves to not only bring this issue to your attention but also to discuss ways through which the bill can be successfully passed into law.
Bill: Pathways to Becoming Law
The process of passing the proposed bill into law lies squarely on the state legislative assembly, thus the need to include the local legislative representative in concerted efforts aimed at ensuring the bill becomes law (Small, 2007). However, the Congress is involved in discussing bills that require presidential ascent to become federal law. Since the proposed bill targets state-wide legislation, it will first be introduced to the state legislative assembly to be explained to members. Here, your input as the local legislative representative will be required as you are expected to introduce the bill to the floor of the assembly and also to explain its main tenets.
The next step will entail the second reading of the bill, where it is expected that you will take the lead in assisting other members of the assembly to discuss and debate the bill in principle (Simitian, 2009). Afterwards, the bill will be reviewed by a committee consisting of members of the legislative assembly and other interested stakeholders.
Here, the public, government agencies, and representatives of various pharmaceutical firms will be given an opportunity to air their concerns for consideration of possible amendments. At this stage, it is important to give each stakeholder a fair hearing to ensure that the bill gains momentum and is free of any errors that may make it to become redundant (Small, 2007). The selected committee will then be expected to take the bill back to the legislative assembly with any amendments considered.
The next step will entail the third and final reading of the bill, where the bill will be discussed again to refresh the memories of members of the legislative assembly before they take a vote for final approval (Simitian, 2009). In this stage, your input as the local legislative representative will be instrumental in ensuring that the bill is voted for by most members of the legislative assembly. If the bill passes this final hurdle, it will be forwarded to the state governor for signing into state law. It is important to note that similar pathways are involved in federal legislative process, with noted differences being that the bill is discussed by the Congress rather than the state legislative assembly and ascent is given by the President rather than the state governor.
Political Strategies
Various political strategies can be used to support the proposed bill and ensure its successful passage through the system to become law. For example, interest groups that represent the vulnerable populations in America can be used to lobby for the bill at the committee stage (Grogan & Gusmano, 2009). Such interest groups have organized power which can be used to lobby for support among different members of the state legislative assembly. Another political strategy entails influencing different organizations that support vulnerable populations in the country to work together in terms of sharing resources and creating coalitions aimed at gaining influence when it comes to political advocacy aimed at passing the bill into law (Grogan & Gusmano, 2009).
Additionally, the media can be used to campaign for the bill at the grassroots and ensure that it garners the support needed for successive passage (Mebane & Blendon, 2001). This strategy entails developing campaign materials advocating for the bill and ensuring that the campaigns are adequately funded to receive optimal exposure in mainstream media houses.
Still, nursing and other healthcare providers can rely on a few political actors who demonstrate technical knowledge on the issues addressed by the bill to ensure that it receives a fair hearing on the floor of the house. Such political actors can be relied upon to provide expert advice at every stage with the view to pushing the bill through the system. Lastly, nursing and other health care professionals can organize themselves to create awareness at the local or state level and provide the bill with the attention it deserves (e.g., by becoming a source of information) with the view to influencing the political decision making process at the federal or state level (Mebane & Blendon, 2001).
Conceptual Model for Policy Making
This letter wants to focus your attention on the stage-sequential model and why it is important to place the policy making model on the formal agenda for the legislature. The stage-sequential model not only avails a good illustration of the importance of analytical frameworks used for evaluating public health policies, but also makes it possible to present the intricate process of public policy development in a comparatively simple way (Public Policy Models, 2013). This model divides the process of developing public policies into various stages, namely agenda setting, policy formulation, implementation, as well as evaluation (Kirsch, 2008).
The stage model should be placed on the formal agenda for the legislature as it not only allows for proper identification and documentation of the coverage problem facing vulnerable populations in the U.S. during the agenda setting stage, but also details the possible impacts related to negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower prices to ensure continuous drug coverage for selected populations. Additionally, the model allows for a practical implementation of the policy through the documentation of previously adopted policies to identify potential pitfalls. Lastly, the model allows for the development of monitoring mechanisms that perform complex evaluations aimed at revealing discrepancies between the policy’s expected outcomes and actual outcomes (Public Policy Models, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is believed that the ways and strategies discussed in this letter will be of immense benefit in ensuring that the proposed Extra Rx Help bill is successfully legislated and passed into law. It is important to underscore the fact that the passage of this bill into law will be instrumental in ensuring continuous drug coverage for vulnerable populations in the state.
References
Freedman, V.A., & Spillman, B.C. (2014). Disability and care needs among older Americans. Milbank Quarterly, 92(3), 509-541.
Grogan, C.M., & Gusmano, M.K. (2009). Political strategies of safety-net providers in response to Medicaid managed care reforms. Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, 34(1), 5-35.
Kirsch, R. (2008). Winning quality affordable healthcare for all. Social Policy, 38(3), 26-31.
Mebane, F., & Blendon, R.J. (2001). Political strategy 101: How to make health policy and influence political people. Journal of Child Neurology, 16(7), 513-519.
Public policy models and their usefulness in public health. (2013). Web.
Simitian, J. (2009). How a bill becomes a law, really. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 24(3), 1009-1017.
Small, A. (2007). Legislative update. Florida Nurse, 55(3), 7-11.
Vanderbilt, A.A., Isringhausen, K.T., Vanderwielen, L.M., Wright, M.S., Slascheva, L.B., & Modden, M.A. (2013). Health disparities among highly vulnerable populations in the United States: A call to action for medical and oral health care. Medical Education Online, 18(1), 1-3.