The federal government is divided into executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Each of those divisions has its complex structure and responsibilities. In terms of healthcare policymaking, the executive branch is presented by the HHS department, which consists of numerous agencies responsible for conducting health and social science research, disease outbreak prevention, ensuring food and drug safety, and providing health insurance. Some of the most well-known agencies include the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The legislative branch is responsible for writing laws and is connected to the executive and judicial branches. Overall, the federal government’s contribution to health policies has been dominant in the maintenance of massive healthcare delivery programs. All of the branches are involved in making healthcare policies. This cooperation is extended to the state government, which plays a significant role in maintaining public health, financing, and providing services for individuals aged 65 and over.
Although there are many similarities between the operation of traditional economic markets with that of policy markets, for example, something of value is exchanged between suppliers and demanders in both markets. However, there are some fundamental differences. As such, in traditional markets, buyers express their preferences by spending their own money. Hence, they reap the benefits of their choices and directly beat the costs of those choices. On the contrary, there is no such direct link between those who receive benefits and those who bear costs in policy markets.
First, the demanders of health policies can include individuals who consider the policies relevant to the pursuit of their own health or that of others about whom they care. Secondly, demanders may include individuals who consider the policies to gain some form of economic advantage. The motivating factor for this type of demander is the desire to gain economic benefits and participation in economic markets.
The suppliers of health policies are connected to the type of governmental branch that is responsible for the policy. For example, legislators may act as suppliers as they are motivated by the public interest and self-interest. The second type of supplier includes executives and bureaucrats (Meacham, 2020). These include elected officials such as presidents, governors, mayors, and other senior public-sector executives, which can also be motivated by both public and self-interest. Finally, the judiciary also acts as a supplier of policymakers. Due to the nature of federal judges’ lifetime appointments, they are not motivated by self-interest as elected officials are. Therefore, their motivation lies within the sphere of public interest.
Pluralist perspective on interest groups in policymaking entails that interest groups play a positive role in public policymaking, and therefore public interest can be represented by one or more of them. Pluralists mainly operate within the tenets of the group theory, which are based on the belief that interest groups act as a link between people and their government, and the competition between the groups is essentially fair. On the contrary, elitists’ perspective states that most of the groups are ineffective and powerless within the competition (Meacham, 2020). There is a powerful elite referred to as “the establishment”, and it prevails on significant policy issues.
Influence in policy markets refers to the power to shape or determine a policy. Power is a more diverse term that manifests itself in different forms. Mainly it can be defined as a possession of certain abilities that help an agent to gain an advantage of the situation (Meacham, 2020). Its sources include legitimization, reward, coerciveness, expertise, and referential power.
References
Meacham M. R. (2020). Longest Health Policymaking in the United States. Seventh Edition. Health Administration Press.