NURS 6050 Week 1 Discussion Presidential Agendas

NURS 6050 Week 1 Discussion Presidential Agendas

Regardless of political affiliation, every citizen has a stake in healthcare policy decisions. Hence, it is little wonder why healthcare items become such high-profile components of presidential agendas. It is also little wonder why they become such hotly debated agenda items.

Consider a topic that rises to the presidential level. How did each of the presidents (Trump, Obama, and Bush) handle the problem? What would you do differently?

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources and reflect on the importance of agenda setting.
• Consider how federal agendas promote healthcare issues and how these healthcare issues become agenda priorities.

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post your response to the discussion question: Consider a topic that rises to the presidential level. How did each of the presidents (Trump, Obama, and Bush) handle the problem? What would you do differently?

By Day 6 of Week 1

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days by expanding on their response and providing an example that supports their explanation or respectfully challenging their explanation and providing an example.

 

Robin Squellati Walden Instructor Manager

RE: Discussion – Week 1

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Hi Class,

If you are having difficulty deciding on a topic, consider topics in Healthy People 2020 or Healthy People 2030.  Some examples are opioids, HIV, mental health, prescription drug costs, obesity, vaccine hesitancy, and telehealth. President Biden is not one of the three If you are having any trouble, please email me. The post is due by Day 3 (Wednesday) and must use at least three sources. I am looking forward to reading your posts.

Dr. Robin

 

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11 months ago

CHIBUIKE ENYINNIA

RE: Discussion – Week 1

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Dear Dr Robin,

 

Thanks for this heads up!

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11 months ago

courtney leboeuf

RE: Discussion – Week 1

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Presidential Agendas and the Fight Against Opiates

In 2018, 1.6 million Americans had been diagnosed with Substance Use Disorder (Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). Each of the past three presidents has attempted to combat this issue in varying approaches. The opiate epidemic was declared a national emergency by President Trump in October of 2017. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including healthcare costs, lost productivity, addiction treatment, and criminal justice involvement (NIH, 2018).

During the Bush administration, the white house outlined goals including education and resources for young people, healing America’s drug users, and disrupting drug markets (The White House, 2006). This outlined plan included The First Lady leading a community outreach website named “The Community Guide to Helping Americas Youth.” This site had data on poverty, unemployment, substance use, and a list of helpful resources.  A key priority of this administration was to make drug screening and intervention programs part of the nation’s existing network of health, education, law enforcement, and counseling providers (The White House, 2006). The Bush administration focused on poly-substance use and the entrance of all substances coming into the U.S., focusing on prevention and community outreach.

During Obama’s presidency, the opiate epidemic significantly increased. The Obama administration announced the allocation of new grant funding to fight the nation’s growing opioid use and abuse epidemic. $53 million will be shared across the United States to allow access to treatment, increase data surveillance involving substance use disorder and curb the use of opiates (Petruzelli, 2017). The 2011 Prescription drug abuse Program included action plans to improve education, monitoring, proper medication disposal, and law enforcement (The White House, 2016). Ultimately, this program focused on preventing doctor shopping, overprescribing, and providing law enforcement tools to rid illegal opiate pill mills. Overall, this administration contributes much progress and funding to battle the rising opiate epidemic.

Lastly, The Trump administration declared a National Emergency in 2017, shortly after the president was elected. The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Act was improved, which expanded care to treatment centers and addiction services. This Act included increasing the number of practitioners that can prescribe Buprenorphine, the gold standard for treatment of opiate use disorder, allow Medicare to include MAT (medicated assisted treatment), and removed barriers that will allow for medication-assisted treatment via telehealth.  President Trump emphasized deterring international illicit drug supply chains by increasing monitoring at borders and ports into the U.S. (The White House, 2018). Trump advanced the SUPPORT Act, the single most extensive legislative package addressing a single drug crisis in history (White House, 2018). The SUPPORT Act ultimately includes all aspects of opiate use disorders, including neonatal withdrawal coverage, which hadn’t been previously covered.

Ultimately, The United States opioid epidemic has been worsening for many, many years. Each president was contributing and funding efforts in many of the same areas of the preceding president. Something that could have been done differently is a quicker emergency response to the increasing number of deaths by the day. Also, only in recent years has medication-assisted treatment (MAT) been funded to treat opiate use disorder. Suppose these medications, such as Buprenorphine, had been approved by Medicare in earlier stages of the epidemic. In that case, the number of deaths could have been decreased by utilizing this evidence-based practice.