Humanities Homework Help

W5: Economic and Health Care Policy

Economic policy is a complex but vital part of the United States. To start this discussion, take a look at CNBC’s explanation of what the Federal Reserve is and what it does.

Now, look through online sources to locate a specific economic policy in effect that you find interesting. It could relate to taxation, user fees, mortgage rates, minimum wage, or anything tied to US economic interest. 

Then analyze it using the policy framework we have been discussing. Consider effectiveness, efficiency, ethics, equity, political feasibility, social/cultural feasibility, etc. 

Be sure that you provide some background on the issue at the start of your post and include links to current event articles that help to explain the issue.

References

About the Federal Reserve System. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/structu…

Affordable Care Act (ACA) – HealthCare.gov Glossary. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-car…

Amadeo, K. (2017, May 25). Current U.S. Federal Budget Deficit: 4 Reasons the U.S. Deficit Is Out of Control. The Balance. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/current-u-s-federal-budget-deficit-3305783.

Amadeo, K. (2017, July 1). What Is the National Debt? 3 Ways to Visualize the National Debt. The Balance. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-national-debt-4031393.

Amadeo, K. (2017, August 30). What Was Obama’s Stimulus Package? Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/what-was-obama-s-stimulus-package-3305625.

Centers for Disease Control (CDC). (2017). Our History – Our Story, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/about/history/index.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, April 26). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2017, November 02). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.cms.gov/

Exec. Order No. Presidential Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States, 3 C.F.R. (2017). https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/1…

Federal Reserve Act. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/fract.h…

FRED Data Practice: “ U.S. deficit and debt ” Objectives. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/pageone-…

Health Resources and Service Information. (2017). About HRSA. Retrieved from https://www.hrsa.gov/about/index.html.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll – August 2017: The Politics of ACA Repeal and Replace Efforts. (2017, September 18). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kai…

King v. Burwell. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-114

Medicaid Home. (2017, November 21). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.medicaid.gov/

Medicaid.gov. (n.d.). Affordable Care Act. Retrieved from https://www.medicaid.gov/affordable-care-act/index.html.

Medicaid.gov. (n.d.). Eligibility. Retrieved from https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/eligibility.

National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. (2017). Fast Facts About Medicare. Retrieved from http://www.ncpssm.org/Medicare/MedicareFastFacts.

National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/11-393

National Institutes of Health. (2017). Frequently Asked Questions: About NIH. Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/frequently-asked-questions.

National Institutes of Health. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.nih.gov/

News and Announcements. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.hrsa.gov/

Office of Management and Budget. (2017, September 30). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. § 18001 (2010).

Policy Basics: Introduction to the Federal Budget Process. (2017, October 10). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.cbpp.org/research/policy-basics-introd…

State Children’s Health Insurance Program. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.benefits.gov/benefits/benefit-details/…

The Presidents. (2017, March 08). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/Presidents

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). HHS.gov. Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.hhs.gov/

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (2017). What does FDA do? Retrieved from https://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/Transparency/Basics/ucm194877.htm.

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from http://www.usdebtclock.org/

What’s Medicare? (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2017, from https://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-change-plans/deci…

W6: Welfare Policy

“Welfare” has gone through many changes over time.

In 2014, the War on Poverty turned 50.  Take a look at this report from the CATO Institute as well as the lesson and course reading and answer the following questions:

• Have the programs worked to reduce poverty?
• Where does the US stand in terms of poverty and welfare?
• What federal social service programs need revision?  Why?

Evaluate the welfare/social service issue utilizing our policy framework. 

Be sure to bring in additional scholarly sources to balance your analysis.

Reading resources:

Floyd, I. (2017). TANF Cash Benefits Have Fallen by More Than 20 Percent in Most States and Continue to Erode. Retrieved from https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-suppor…

Internal Revenue Service. (2017). Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Retrieved from https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit.

Office of President Barack Obama. (2012). Race to the Top. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/education/k-12/race-to-the-top.

Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. (2011). No Child Left Behind Act. State of Washington. Retrieved from http://www.k12.wa.us/esea/NCLB.aspx.

Social Security Administration. (2017). Understanding the Benefits. Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10024.pdf.

Social Security Administration. (2017). Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-11000.pdf.

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944). Retrieved from https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&d…

Thomas Jefferson, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, Federal Edition (New York and London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904-5). Vol. 11. Retrieved from http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/807

Social Welfare History Project (2016). Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Social Welfare History Project. Retrieved from http://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/educ…

Sumner, Kandice. (2015). Kandice Sumner at TEDxBeaconStreet How America’s public schools keep kids in poverty. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/kandice_sumner_how_ameri…

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (2017). Am I Eligible for SNAP? Retrieved from https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligibility

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (2017). Retrieved from https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligible-food-items

TAP ™ : The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. (2015). Teacher Training, Evaluation, and Compensation. Retrieved from https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionRepor…

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) . (2017). Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/tanf

US Census Bureau (2017) Income and Poverty in the United States (2016). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/d… .

U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2017). Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Food and Nutrition Service. Retrieved from https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (n.d.). Housing Choice Vouchers Fact Sheet. Retrieved from https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/housing_choice_voucher_program_section_8.

• Accountability in US Education: Applying Lessons from K-12 Experience to Higher Education
• From paper to electronic: Food stamps, social security, and the changing functionality of government benefits
• Making public policy: The new philanthropists and american education
• The politics of the common core assessments: Why states are quitting the PARCC and smarter balanced testing consortia.(partnership for assessment of readiness for college and careers)
• Reassessing “City limits” in urban public policy
• Social media and child welfare: Policy, training, and the risks and benefits from the administrator’s perspective

W7: Homeland Security Policy

One of the most debated products of the War on Terror is the USA PATRIOT Act.

Assess this Act on the trade-off between security and civil rights.

Has this Act been effective, equal, and ethical? 

Does the Freedom Act of 2015 correct any of these issues? 

Quiz4: Write about military retirement and tweak it to meat this week requirements. 

Reading Resources:

EnergyFromShale.org. (2017) What Is Fracking? Retrieved from http://www.what-is-fracking.com/what-is-hydraulic-fracturing/.

Hasset, K. A., & Mathur, A. (2013). Benefits of hydraulic fracking. Retrieved from http://www.aei.org/publication/benefits-of-hydraul…

H.R.2048, 114th Cong. (2015) (enacted). USA FREEDOM Act of 2015. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house…

H.R.3162, 107th Cong. (2001) (enacted). Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001. Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house…

Member Agencies. (n.d.). Retrieved 2017 from https://www.intelligencecareers.gov/icmembers.html

National Security Strategy (2015). Retrieved from http://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20…

Office of the U.S. President. (2015) National Security Strategy. Retrieved fromhttp://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20…

Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). (2017). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sdwa

Summary of the Clean Air Act. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean…

Summary of the Clean Water Act. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean…

Summary of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund). (2017). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-compr…

Summary of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-feder…

Summary of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-resou…

Summary of the Toxic Substances Control Act. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-toxic…

Trump, D. J. (2017). Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord. Address presented in The White House, Washington, D.C. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/0…

U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/

• Environmental Security is Homeland Security: Climate Disruption as the Ultimate Disaster Risk Multiplier
• Grand strategy vs. emergent strategy in the conduct of foreign policy
• Incentives or mandates? determinants of the renewable energy policies of U.S. states, 1970-2012.
• Natural gas and spillover from the US clean power plan into the paris agreement
• A perspective on clean power and the future of US energy politics and policy.
• Scientific basis for environmental regulation: Public disclosure and federal rulemaking and advisory activities
• What’s the problem? frameworks and methods from policy analysis for analyzing complex problems
• Quiz4: Write about military retirement and tweak it to meat this week requirements.

W8: Policy Impact and Civic Engagement

Citizen participation is at the cornerstone of an effective and representative government.  Take some time to consider the issue and get involved. 

Get out and do it! Apply what you have learned and engage! 

A good starting point may be a topic from this class that piqued your interest (think gun violence in schools, military retirement). Write your representatives, join a PAC, or share your thoughts with member of your local or state government.  Then, report back to the class on what you have done! Or in the alternative, attend a meeting, volunteer at a nonprofit or show public service in some other manner. 

Reading Resources: 

• Civic tech and public policy decision making. PS, Political Science & Politics, 50(3), 764-771
• Degrees of Engagement: Using Cultural Worldviews to Explain Variations in Public Preferences for Engagement in the Policy Process
• Emotion-driven negative policy bubbles
• Evidence-based policymaking and the public interest: lessons in legitimacy
• How Citizens can have a voice in Policymaking
• An innovative, open, interoperable citizen engagement cloud platform for smart government and users’ interaction
• Motivations to Contribute to Public Goods: Beyond rational choice economics.
• The political use of knowledge in the policy process
• Saint-Germain, M. (2002) Decision-Making in Public Policy. California State University, Long Beach. Retrieved from http://web.csulb.edu/~msaintg/ppa590/decision.htm.
• Slack, B. (2017). The Policy Process. Hofstra University. Retrieved from https://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/methods/ch9c2en.html.