Interest Groups Or Lobby Groups

Lobbyists

An interest group or also known as a lobbying group, are organizations or companies that are interested in persuading U.S. politicians in selecting their agendas or policies. A lobbyist is typically a person who is hired by an interest group. A lobbyist can also be unpaid individual who lobby’s on behalf of a special interest group. A lobbyist’s job description is to lobby elected officials in Congress. “Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies” (Wikipedia, n.d.). Lobbyists also have access to large sums of money to help win over politicians. OpenSecrets.org (2016) reported in 2015 there were 11,504 lobbyists and the amount

healthcare system has failed in lowering health care costs, improving access, and increasing the quality of care. Prior to the implementation of the ACA, the federal expenditures totaled $829 billion, or 22% of all federal expenditures in 2010 (Mason et al., 2014). It was estimated that if the ACA passed it could potentially reduce the federal budget in health care spending by $143 billion over the next ten years (Mason et al., 2014). These were major factors that helped the passage of the ACA in 2010. The funding for the ACA was a major hurdle and demanded a lot of resources. Opportunity costs include time, money, resources from interested third parties, and government funding to making a successful policy. An internal federal department called the Congressional Budget Office, is a research unit of Congress that evaluates congressional budget intentions and policy commitments. Through the passage of the ACA and requiring all Americans to have health insurance will result in decreasing the health care

Public policies can gain public acceptance based on current or past events. The government has made a number of laws related to safety issues. For example, seat belts and helmet laws came about after a large number of deaths that occurred from not wearing a seat belt or helmets while driving a motorcycle. A direct impact on the health care system was in the 1960’s from the Goldwater debacle that influenced Johnson’s win as the U.S. President and passage of Medicare program (Kingdon, 2011). According to Kingdon (2011), policy windows happen infrequently and it is important to act promptly while the opportunity is available. Other policy designs can occur based on governmental agendas from elected officials that have an increased interest in proposing a change in public policies. The results can vary based on the number of influencers, media coverage, focused events or indicators, and the amount of public interest on a specific issue. All of these factors can influence on how an elected official may vote on an