Jordan Searcy
J17004771
M3 Practitioner Application
10 June 2018
Introduction
Healthcare encompasses a large majority of interest groups and continues to increase with time. Specifically, Steven Landers reiterates this notion that, “Health care lobbying expenditures totaled $237 million in 2000. These expenditures accounted for 15% of all federal lobbying and were larger than the lobbying expenditures of every other sector, including agriculture, communications, and defense. A total of 1192 organizations were involved in health care lobbying. From 1997 to 2000, the number of organizations increased by 50%. To illustrate, from 1997 to 2000, lobbying expenditures by pharmaceutical/health product companies grew by 27%, expenditures by physicians/health
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When the society is informed of the health problems Americans face, these same citizens can work together for a common cause and build support for sound public policies.
The work of We Can Do Better focuses on “complex information and making it understandable to the public, so that weighing in on these important issues does not feel so daunting. The belief is that people want to engage effectively, but sometimes need a translator along the way,” (wecandobetter.org).
The mission is achieved through three main objectives: 1) healthcare of a defined population, 2) reduced (or contained) per capita costs, and 3) an improved experience of care for the users of the system, (wecandobetter.org).
Role in Health Policy
Margot Kushel, author of Health Care Lobbying: Time To Make Patients the Special Interest, declares, “Physicians are neither the only nor the largest health care constituency pursuing the opportunity to influence the direction of health policy-making.”
We Can Do Better provides services catered to education,
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The system has no uniform or universal health coverage for all, which makes it one of the most inefficient systems worldwide. With the indecisiveness between the Republic and Democratic Parties, it is extremely complicated to arrive at a sound healthcare solution as it relates to who should be afforded healthcare, how the system should operate and who should pay for it. Democrats tend to focus on providing healthcare for low income, underprivileged citizens whereas Republicans believe the individual states should be at liberty to create their own healthcare guidelines. It is through these interest groups that these issues are put to the forefront. So, advocacy groups create a voice for those to express public issues in hopes of reinforcing change.
References
Carver, John. "What Is the Role of an Advocacy Group in Effective Governance?." Board Leadership, vol. 2003, no. 70, Nov/Dec2003, pp. 6-7. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.lsus.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=11698068&site=ehost-live.
Kushel, Margot and Andrew B. Bindman. "Health Care Lobbying: Time to Make Patients the Special Interest."American Journal of Medicine, vol. 116, no. 7, Apr. 2004, p. 496. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2004.02.011.
Landers, Steven H. and Ashwini R. Sehgal. "Health Care Lobbying in the United States." American Journal of Medicine, vol. 116, no. 7, Apr. 2004, p. 474. EBSCOhost,