Policy Brief

Using the research you did  in week 2, and the feedback you received, you will prepare a policy  brief for a group of legislators. Your goal is to convince policymakers  to take action regarding the problem you described and researched in  your week 2 policy brief worksheet.

This paper should be 1200-1500 words. Paper must be submitted to plagiarism checker and you need to include a PDF of the plagiarism report generated by Turnitin.

Your Paper will contain the following parts:

Executive Summary: Follow  the executive summary description in the Center for Writing Excellence.  Provide a summary of the policy issue and your recommendations that  will follow. This really like an introduction–provide a brief overview  of what your policy brief will cover.

Problem overview: Using specific data, explain why  there is an issue that needs legislative attention. Consider the policy  agenda process described in our course text, Longest, 2016. What causes  an issue to become part of the legislative agenda? Make sure your  problem overview includes enough detail to convince policymakers that  the problem requires their action and attention. You should have some of  the data you need from the research you did in week 2, but you will  likely need to add more data and analyze the data that you previously  found. Potential policy solutions:Discuss  possible solutions to the issue. You should include at least three  different possible policy approaches. You can list past solutions that  have already been implemented (and which you don’t believe are working).  Here, you are going to discuss a few different ways to solve the policy  issue. From this list, you will then choose one which you believe to be  the best solution, but before you provide your specific solution, you  will list other alternatives. Recommended solution:From  your list of possible policy actions, choose a specific and actionable  solution that you will recommend to policymakers. When you think you  have a possible solution, ask yourself, “Is this something specific a  policymaker or implementing organization can do?” If not, then you have  not provided an appropriate solution. References/Resources:List all references and  include any additional resources you think might be helpful for  policymakers who would like to research the topic in more depth. You do not need to provide additional resources, but you must include a reference page with references in APA format.

Keep  your content concise, specific, and make sure you are using academic  sources to support any of your recommendations. Anecdotes and personal  opinion should be minimal.

Policy Brief Worksheet
HCS/455
University of Phoenix Material
Policy Brief: Part 1
Preparation Worksheet
Sierra Heider
You have the opportunity to present a policy brief to your state legislators on the policy of your choice. Your job is to convince this group of
legislators to pass or revise a specific policy. Complete the worksheet with the information needed to help you prepare your policy brief,
which will be due in week 4.
Part 1: Topic/Overview of Problem: (Your topic should be a specific problem that exists in our healthcare system). Describe the
problem below using evidence and data.
A. Overview of problem (150-200 word summary of the problem):
Medical insurance has been a major challenge that affects Healthcare provision in the United States. The issue has resulted in
conditions of uninsured citizens who fall at risk of accessing quality healthcare. Despite the high amounts of money pumped into the
American healthcare system, the issue of high health care costs remain to be a significant problem. The issue is very dire that it restricts
some individuals from accessing proper medical care services. The United States healthcare system is one of the highest at over $
2trillion spent in healthcare annually. This aspect translates to one of the largest per capita in the world. This condition has to service
delivery as it affects the quality of service delivery (Bittoni et al., 2015). On the other hand, medical insurance has faced major challenges
with the development of a clear and direct way of compelling uninsured citizens to enroll for medical insurance programs and platforms.
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B. Evidence that a problem exists: (list at least three pieces of evidence—data, statistics, information from studies, etc.) that
demonstrates there is a problem. Cite sources for each statistic.
1. From a study, 16% of uninsured citizens in the American population results from uninsured persons within the subsequent racial
groups. From the diagram below. 22% of the different racial groups constitute a greater percentage of uninsured person in the
United States (Bittoni et al., 2015).
2. Additionally, in US per capita expenditure on healthcare is one of the highest in any industrial nations. The spending is one of the
highest spending nations. The cost is about 50% higher than the other highest spending nations globally.
3. Thirdly, the nation relies mostly on a fee for service. An element that is more reliant on private insurance. This aspect makes it
almost impossible for the government to regulate prices for medical service provision (Bittoni et al., 20
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Part 2: Potential Solutions: (List three possible policy solutions to this problem. Your solutions must be actionable, specific, and must
be something that policymakers can accomplish—a new law, better regulation, more funding, etc.). Include likely benefits and
possible negative outcomes associated with each solution and describe how stakeholders are impacted.
A. Possible solution 1: enhance the activity of consumers in deciding the service they need concerning the various health care
needs. In this aspect, they decide on the healthcare plans they need concerning their needs to create higher value.
Likely benefits: it will bring about a patient-driven care system an aspect that will result in cheaper costs of medical care.
Possible negative outcomes: there will be less need for professional medical service delivery hence will encourage the best care.
How stakeholders are impacted positively and negatively: the practice will encourage a devolved medical service provision hence
reduce congestion in medical centers. On the other hand, this will negatively reduce hospital revenues an aspect that results from
lower visits at the hospitals (Sommers, Gawande & Baicker, 2017).
B. Possible solution 2: encourage competition among healthcare providers.
Likely benefits: the result will be increased competition among the healthcare providers. This, in turn, reflects low costs for medical
service provision.
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Possible negative outcomes: possible negative impacts will be excessive manipulation on patients. This aspect comes in during times
of calamity when medical institutions manipulate.
How stakeholders are impacted positively and negatively: this is likely to increase the need for medical products. On the other side,
it will negatively influence finances for medical institutions hence reduce practitioner salaries.
C. Possible solution 3: providing more information to consumers. In this aspect, patients being informed on multiple ways of
medical service delivery.
Likely benefits: patients are likely to know service provision centers at affordable prices. Hence, value for their money and best
service delivery.
Possible negative outcomes: this encourages the presence of middlemen and poor service delivery. An aspect that is likely to even
escalate medical prices even further.
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How stakeholders are impacted positively and negatively: this will encourage preference on best quality medical services; hence
practitioners with the best service are encouraged to even perform better. On the other hand, this will encourage middlemen who
discourage profitability (Schaller & Stevens, 2015).
Part 3: Sources (list at least three academic sources using APA format).
References
• Bittoni, M. A., Wexler, R., Spees, C. K., Clinton, S. K., & Taylor, C. A. (2015). Lack of private health insurance is associated with
higher mortality from cancer and other chronic diseases, poor diet quality, and inflammatory biomarkers in the United States.
Preventive medicine, 81, 420-426.
• Schaller, J., & Stevens, A. H. (2015). Short-run effects of job loss on health conditions, health insurance, and health care utilization.
Journal of health economics, 43, 190-203.
• Sommers, B. D., Gawande, A. A., & Baicker, K. (2017). Health insurance coverage and health—what the recent evidence tells us.
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