Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief

It may seem to you that healthcare has been a national topic of debate among political leaders for as long as you can remember.

Healthcare has been a policy item and a topic of debate not only in recent times but as far back as the administration of the second U.S. president, John Adams. In 1798, Adams signed legislation requiring that 20 cents per month of a sailor’s paycheck be set aside for covering their medical bills. This represented the first major piece of U.S. healthcare legislation, and the topic of healthcare has been woven into presidential agendas and political debate ever since.

As a healthcare professional, you may be called upon to provide expertise, guidance and/or opinions on healthcare matters as they are debated for inclusion into new policy. You may also be involved in planning new organizational policy and responses to changes in legislation. For all of these reasons you should be prepared to speak to national healthcare issues making the news.

In this Assignment, you will analyze recent presidential healthcare agendas. You also will prepare a fact sheet to communicate the importance of a healthcare issue and the impact on this issue of recent or proposed policy.

To Prepare:

Review the agenda priorities of the current/sitting U.S. president and the two previous presidential administrations.
Select an issue related to healthcare that was addressed by each of the last three U.S. presidential administrations.
Reflect on the focus of their respective agendas, including the allocation of financial resources for addressing the healthcare issue you selected.
Consider how you would communicate the importance of a healthcare issue to a legislator/policymaker or a member of their staff for inclusion on an agenda.

The Assignment: (1- to 2-page Comparison Grid, 1-Page Analysis, and 1-page Fact Sheet)

Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid

Use the Agenda Comparison Grid Template found in the Learning Resources and complete the Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid based on the current/sitting U.S. president and the two previous presidential administrations and their agendas related to the public health concern you selected. Be sure to address the following:

Identify and provide a brief description of the population health concern you selected and the factors that contribute to it.
Describe the administrative agenda focus related to the issue you selected.
Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue.
Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.

Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis

Using the information you recorded in Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid on the template, complete the Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis portion of the template, by addressing the following:

Which administrative agency would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected?
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on the agenda for the current and two previous presidents? How does it stay there?
Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor of the healthcare issue you selected for the current and two previous presidents?
At least 2 outside and 2-3 course resources are used.

Part 3: Narrative

Using the information recorded on the template in Parts 1 and 2, develop a 1-page narrative that you could use to communicate with a policymaker/legislator or a member of their staff for this healthcare issue. Be sure to address the following:

Summarize why this healthcare issue is important and should be included in the agenda for legislation.
Justify the role of the nurse in agenda setting for healthcare issues.
At least 3 resources are used.

Agenda Comparison Grid Template

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Agenda Comparison Grid and Fact Sheet or Talking Points Brief Assignment Template for Part 1 and Part 2

Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid

Identify the Population Health concern you selected.	Public health insurance.
Describe the Population Health concern you selected and the factors that contribute to it.	Public health insurance presents a concern to the federal government as number of Americans without health insurances is high.
Administration (President Name)	President Trump	President Obama	President Bush
Describe the administrative agenda focus related to this issue for the current and two previous presidents.	President Trump reduced financial support for public health insurance programs, specifically Medicare and Medicaid (Goodnough, 2020).	President Obama enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that improved public health insurance coverage for Americans (Debt Organization, 2020).	President Bush reduced financial support for Medicare and Medicaid. Move intended to allow the programs remain sustainable (The Commonwealth Fund, 2020).
Identify the allocations of financial and other resources that the current and two previous presidents dedicated to this issue.	Spending on Medicare and Medicare reduced by more than $200 billion (Pramuk, 2019).	PPACA was funded to the tune of $2.5 billion during the two terms, 2010 to 2018 (Debt Organization, 2020).	Spending on Medicare and Medicare reduced by 13.6 billion over 5 years (The Commonwealth Fund, 2020).
Explain how each of the presidential administrations approached the issue.	President Trump is more concerns with the economic and fiscal implications and focused on reducing government spending.	President Obama focused on improving health care access for Americans, especially those unable to pay for private insurance.	President Bush was concerned with improving health care access for Americans unable to pay for private health insurance, and reduced funding to make the program more sustainable.

Part 2: Agenda Comparison Grid Analysis

Using the information you recorded in Part 1: Agenda Comparison Grid, complete the following to document information about the population health/healthcare issue your selected

Administration (President Name)	President Trump	President Obama	President Bush
Which administrative agency would most likely be responsible for helping you address the healthcare issue you selected?	Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would address public health insurance issues as it manages Medicare and Medicaid (USAGov, 2020).	CMS would address public health insurance issues as it manages Medicare and Medicaid (USAGov, 2020).	CMS would address public health insurance issues as it manages Medicare and Medicaid (USAGov, 2020).
How do you think your selected healthcare issue might get on the agenda for the current and two previous presidents? How does it stay there?	President Trump is more concerned with economic implications, and would be more concerned if addressing the issue is shown to have positive economic effects both in the short-term and long-term.	President Trump was more concerned with improving health car access, and the issue would remain in the agenda if costs are minimized even as beneficiaries are increased.	President Trump was more concerned with improving health car access, and the issue would remain in the agenda if costs are minimized even as beneficiaries are increased.
Who would you choose to be the entrepreneur/ champion/sponsor of the healthcare issue you selected for the current and two previous presidents?	An economist would be the ideal sponsor for the issue to present the economic implications of each proposed solution.	A health care professional with an economics background would be the ideal sponsor to the population health and economics implications of each proposed solution.	A health care professional with an economics background would be the ideal sponsor to the population health and economics implications of each proposed solution.

Part 3: Narrative with the Facts

Public health insurance is presented as a concern in the USA. There are insurance programs (Medicare and Medicaid) being managed by the federal government and yet the number of uninsured Americans remains high. Each US president must face difficulties in addressing this issue as there needs to be a balance between coverage and costs. President Trump has focused on the economic aspects and reduced spending on public health insurance so that more Americans are uninsured. President Obama focused on improving health insurance by enacting PPACA. President Bush focused on balancing coverage and costs by capping funding to ensure that the insurance program remained sustainable. Nurses can help in addressing the issue by presenting evidence and partnering with stakeholder to support the program. Presenting evidence involves engaging in research activities that explore different options, the associated outcomes and opportunities (Schmidt & Brown, 2019). Partnering with other stakeholders would involve adding to the voices of other stakeholders to influence public health insurance programs (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2020).

References

Debt Organization (2020). ObamaCare and Associated Costs. Retrieved from https://www.debt.org/medical/obamacare/

Goodnough, A. (2020). Trump Administration Unveils a Major Shift in Medicaid. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/health/medicaid-block-grant-trump.html

Pramuk, J. (2019). Trump pledged to protect Medicare and Medicaid, but his 2020 budget calls for major spending cuts. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/12/trump-2020-budget-proposes-reduced-medicare-and-medicaid-spending.html

Schmidt, N., & Brown, J. (2019). Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses: Appraisal and Application of Research (4^th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2020). Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community. Elsevier, Inc.

The Commonwealth Fund (2020). Bush Medicare, Medicaid Cuts Slammed. Retrieved from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/bush-medicare-medicaid-cuts-slammed

USAGov (2020). Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Retrieved from https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/centers-for-medicare-and-medicaid-services