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Comparing Kraft And Furlong's Four Criteria Of Public Policy

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According to Kraft and Furlong (2013), “public policy is a course of government action or inaction in response to public problems. It is associated with formally approved policy goals and means, as well as the regulations and practices of agencies that implement programs” (p. 2). Public policies are all around us. Nevertheless, it is impossible for an organization or business to operate without mixing with public policies. To access the merit or value of government policies and programs as well as proposed policy alternatives, citizens, analysts, and policymakers need to consider four criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and political feasibility (Kraft and Furlong, 2013, p.31). Kraft and Furlong (2013) explain that “effectiveness refers to whether a current policy or program or one that is being considered is likely to work, efficiency refers to what a policy or policy proposal costs in relation to its expected benefits to society, equity refers to the consideration of what constitutes a fair or equitable policy choice, and political feasibility concerns how government officials and other policy actors appraise …show more content…

For examples, policies related to public assistance programs, affordable health care, human rights, educational, employment, housing are just a few issues whose primary focus should be equity. Perhaps one of the most discussed current policy equity is the U.S. healthcare system. Significantly, there are many underlying issues in looking at the disadvantaged in healthcare equity. Because of the great disadvantages in the healthcare system, policymakers should give an extra effort in making sure that healthcare is an equity public policy. “Affordable health care for all” might require equal access to and availability of health care for all, regardless of the ability to pay for the care” (Musgrave, 2006, p,

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The lack of health care for all in America is fundamentally a moral issue. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee health care to all of its citizens. While other countries deem healthcare to be a basic right, the United States treats health care as a privilege (Universal Health Care). Healthcare is a fundamental right that should be guaranteed to all. A radical change in the current system and the implementation of a single payer universal healthcare system can provide healthcare access to all in the United States.

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According to Baldwin (2003) health care disparities are the differences in health and health care between population groups including race, socioeconomic status, age, location, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. Disparities limits the improvements of quality health care which could result in unnecessary health care expenses. Factors that are contributing to disparities within today’s society are lack of access to quality health care and the number of individuals who are uninsured. As the population continue to grow and become more diverse health care disparities will continue to increase.

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government has demonstrated the effectiveness of an egalitarian system through policies that advocate equity. One example of this is Affordable Care Act (ACA) enacted by President Obama on March 23, 2010. The Affordable Care Act does what it says; it makes healthcare affordable for low-income citizens. Not only does it give low-income citizens the opportunity to purchase health care that would otherwise only be affordable to the upper-class, but it also provides positive secondary long-term effects. The article It Easy for Obamacare Critics to Overlook the Merits of Medicaid Expansion explains that “children whose eligibility [for medicaid] increased were more likely to go to college, earn higher wages and pay more taxes by the time they were 28 years old.”

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A major healthcare concern is making medicine available to those who are impoverished and live in underserved areas. I grew up in Gloversville, New York, a medium sized town that was at one point considered the most impoverished city in the state. Growing up in this region has given me understanding of what life is like in underserved areas. I 've witnessed first hand, the difference in opportunity between myself and students coming from a more urbanized background. It is easy to empathize with those who do not receive proper treatment due to demographic disadvantages.

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“Under this system, all Canadian residents have reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services without paying out-of-pocket” (Government of Canada, 2016) However, the medical funded system instills equality, but it does not provide equity. Medicare provides Canadians with the same platform for health care opportunities but does not take into full consideration the diverse needs of certain populations within Canada. For some populations such as those living in low socio-economic status, the government provides some extra funding, however, it is not adequate. “in an attempt to reduce such health disparities…Evaluations of these systems have repeatedly demonstrated that they have failed to eliminate socioeconomic differences in health outcomes”(p.382, Godley) Conflict theory digs into and examines the inequalities in regard to the structures of classes.

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Healthcare in the United States is in desperate need of reform. There are several rationales to further explain this proposition. As an illustration, the Declaration of Independence states our unalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In other words, every individual should be entitled to healthcare as it preserves life and promotes the general welfare. The federal government should, therefore, enact a program of universal health to better protect and serve all of its citizens.

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Health Care in the US is arguably available to all who seek it but not everybody has had the same experience and treatment when walking through the doors of a healthcare facility. In many cases, people are discriminated against due to their gender, race/ethnicity, age, and income and are often provided with minimal service. Differences between groups in health coverage, access to care, and quality of care is majorly affected through these disparities. Income is a major factor and can cause groups of people to experience higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or mortality relative to another group.

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1. What does the term health disparities mean? Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations. Populations can be defined by factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, education, or income, disability, geographic location orientation.

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Many Americans were led to believe that the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2009 would put an end to disparities in health care access. While it did improve the situation for a small percentage of the population there are still many Americans who lack access to good quality health care. Health care access in America is determined by money and those in lower socioeconomic groups frequently tend to miss out on adequate care. In a recent health care report by the national health research foundation Kaiser Family Foundation, it was noted “health care disparities remain a persistent problem in the United States, leading to certain groups being at higher risk of being uninsured, having limited access to care, and experiencing poorer quality of care” (Kaiser Family Foundation). The current health care

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The sexual orientation, race, age, etc., in the US deprived certain groups from receiving equal opportunity in the health care and the health care. Thus, making the disparities in the US health system an

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Health care should not be considered a political argument in America; it is a matter of basic human rights. Something that many people seem to forget is that the US is the only industrialized western nation that lacks a universal health care system. The National Health Care Disparities Report, as well as author and health care worker Nicholas Conley and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), strongly suggest that the US needs a universal health care system. The most secure solution for many problems in America, such as wasted spending on a flawed non-universal health care system and 46.8 million Americans being uninsured, is to organize a national health care program in the US that covers all citizens for medical necessities.

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In Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services, Lipsky defines street-level bureaucrats as the “teachers, police officers and other law enforcement personnel, social workers, judges, public lawyers and other court officers, health workers, and many other public employees who grant access to government programs and provide services within them” (1980, 3). The book provides us with an insight into the everyday life of a street-level bureaucrat and shows their unmistakable role in delivering social services. Lipsky believes policy is best understood when looking at the people at the forefront of the implementation process; those that have to deal with both the government and the public. Overall, I found this book extremely

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These disparities that exist in all the factors have to be eliminated with suitable control measures. Regulations on health care services and their access has to be made more

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This essay aims to identify and evaluate the inequalities in health care in different areas of society, namely disability and gender. Firstly, it is important to understand what we mean by health inequalities. It is commonly understood that health inequality refers to unjust differences in the health status, usually preventable, between different groups, populations or individuals. The existence of such inequalities is attributed to the unequal distributions of social, environmental and economic conditions within societies. Such conditions determine the risk of individuals getting ill, their ability to prevent sickness, as well as opportunities to access to the right treatments.

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Regulations that the government implement, licensing for example, increases the barrier of entry into the market and decreases ways for the traders to gratify consumer demand. This case is prevalent in the monopoly market. The market is sometimes best to decide how much and what to produce since it has better information and knowledge of the consumers compared to the government. Economic decisions may also not be competent when the government is motivated by political power rather than economic imperatives. Sometimes, economic policies are designed to retain power rather than to ensure maximum efficiency in the economy.

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