The U.S Congress and Health Policy (Research Paper Sample)

The U.S Congress and Health Policy
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What role does the congress play in the formulation of health policy?
Many issues attract the attention of the congress; key among them is the health care issue. Strengthening of the nation’s economy is the first priority of the congress followed by improvement of jobs’ creation with 87% and 84% respectively. It also focuses on financing of the social security systems, reduction of the budget deficit, financing of the Medicare system, reduction of the healthcare cost, revision of the healthcare legislation and helping the needy and the poor. The congress has a vital role to play in the health reform policy (FarleyHenry, 200911). The congress designs entitlement programs such as Medicare, finances programs like Medicaid and Veterans’ administration, and it supports health care research at the National Institutes of Health. The congress makes decisions that have great impacts on the lives of both the republicans and democrats. The lower house and the senate have various committees that have authority over health programs and policies such as regulations, program structure, financing, and oversight.
The House Ways and Means Committee is one of the Congress committee. This committee is responsible for tax policies and deals with tax credits and other matters related to health issues. The Energy and Commerce Committee plays an oversight role over the health issues especially in the public and health programs that are financed by revenue. This committee runs programs such as the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance and other safety programs. The Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions (SHELP) committee is in charge of pension, health, employee’s benefits, public health and biomedical research and development. The senate Finance Committee has the power over the tax policy, federal health programs and other programs such as the Medicare and the Medicaid under the Social Security Act. Another committee is the Budget Committee, which establishes the spending and revenue level of the congress. It sets up the spending priorities and makes decisions on health care finances. The Appropriation Committees in both the House and the Senate are responsible for allocation of funds in the jurisdiction within the limits set by the Budget Committee. The committee has powers over discretionary and non-entitlement programs (Henry,Farley, 200911).
How does the congress operate?
The U.S Congress is made up of two chambers namely; the House of Representatives and the Senate (BristolHenry, 200811). The congress has 535 members and each member represents a specific district. The members of the house are referred to as congressional representatives. Two members represent each state. The senate has 100 members; 51 are democrats, 47 are republicans while 2 are independent. There are four committees responsible of the health issues are the Finance Committee, Budget Committee, Health Education, Labor committee, Pension Committee and the Appropriations Committee. Each committee is independent. The senate has extra powers than the lower house in that it has the power to sign treaties and it either accepts or rejects the appointed cabinet secretaries, military officials, federal government judges and other state officials.
The House has 435 members elected after every two years (Klarner, 2008). Among them, 241 are Republicans, 192 are Democrats and 2 are vacancies. The number of members in the house of representative is determined by the population of the represented state. The House has four committees that are concerned with the issue of health care. These committees are Health Care Policy Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Ways and Means Committee and the Budget and Appropriations Committee. The House has the power to start revenue bills, elect the President in the Electoral College deadlocks, and impeach officials (Henry,Bristol, 200811).
What are the various steps in the legislation?
A bill is introduced to the congress before the president signs it to become a law. Klarner Henry (200811) states that the bill has to go through the idea phase, drafting of the bill, hearings, committee make-up, floor action amendments and the house/senate conference. After these steps, the bill is handed over to the president who signs it to become a law.
How does a bill become a law?
One or more members of the congress introduce the bill to the Congress (Bristol, 2008Sinclair, 2012). The person who introduces the bill is known as a sponsor. The bill can be introduced simultaneously in both chambers, the House and the Senate, or to either one of them. Any other member of the congress may decide to co-sponsor the bill by signing it, or support it to pass through the legislation process. A bill with many co-sponsors has more support, and therefore has a higher chance of moving through the legislative process. A bill is then drafted and afterwards, assigned to the appreciate committee to work on it. In some cases, it can be assigned to a subcommittee. The Congress has many bills to work on and that’sthat is the main reason it is divided into different committees. This enables it to work on every issue with much ease.
According to BristolHenry (200811), the chairperson of the committee schedules for the day of the hearing and of voting the bill. Both the advocates and the opponents are a given a chance to air their views during the process. Members are at liberty to vote for or against the bill. The committee agrees on the actual words of the bill to be forwarded to the senate or to the house. Once the bill passes through, the bill is passed on to the congress. The speaker of the house and the majority leader of the senate schedules a day for voting. Majority and ...