Scenario

You are the director of community affairs for the health lobby organization, Pathways to a Healthy America. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. As a result, millions of Americans who were previously uninsured gained access to the healthcare system. One of the initial provisions of the Act required individual states to expand the eligibility criteria for Medicaid. The program’s costs would be absorbed by the federal government at a rate of 100% for the first three years of program participation which would decrease to 90% after 2020, still, considerably higher than previous funding by the federal government. However, in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled the mandate unconstitutional allowing individual states to voluntarily “opt” out of the Medicaid expansion program. As a result of the various states’ decision to “opt” out of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, millions of adults fell into the critical coverage gap. Your organization represents a state which has decided to forego participation in the ACA expansion program. The decision was met with both praise and criticism.

It has now been a few years since the decision and your organization has gathered information on the impact of the decision in order to advocate for Medicaid reform during the next state legislative session.

You are required to write an advocacy report to state lawmakers in which you advocate for either participating in the original expansion program or participating with conditions (waivers) to address the critical gap in coverage for vulnerable adults in your state. Waivers such as Section 1115 enable for alternative implementation of Medicaid expansion and allow states to impose restrictions which may result in a denial of Medicaid eligibility for individuals who do not meet those restrictions, i.e., work requirements.

Looking to Review My submission to do better.

Instructions

Research the Medicaid expansion program offered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as well as Medicaid reform initiatives using waivers to increase access to Medicaid. Determine, based on your state’s profile, which process (the ACA’s expansion program or the use of waivers) is most beneficial to your state. Include a comprehensive, well-supported recommendation for participation in Medicaid reform using either the ACA’s program or a modified reform process using waivers.

Your advocacy report should describe your state’s current Medicaid program including its eligibility criteria, demographics, Medicaid spending and savings since the ACA’s implementation, and comprehensive details of current or pending waivers. You should also include a discussion (benchmark) on another state’s success with Medicaid reform using your recommended strategy (the ACA’s expansion program or the use of the specific types of waivers for which you propose).

Scenario

You are the director of community affairs for the health lobby organization, Pathways to a Healthy America. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. As a result, millions of Americans who were previously uninsured gained access to the healthcare system. One of the initial provisions of the Act required individual states to expand the eligibility criteria for Medicaid. The program’s costs would be absorbed by the federal government at a rate of 100% for the first three years of program participation which would decrease to 90% after 2020, still, considerably higher than previous funding by the federal government. However, in 2012, the Supreme Court ruled the mandate unconstitutional allowing individual states to voluntarily “opt” out of the Medicaid expansion program. As a result of the various states’ decision to “opt” out of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, millions of adults fell into the critical coverage gap. Your organization represents a state which has decided to forego participation in the ACA expansion program. The decision was met with both praise and criticism.

It has now been a few years since the decision and your organization has gathered information on the impact of the decision in order to advocate for Medicaid reform during the next state legislative session.

You are required to write an advocacy report to state lawmakers in which you advocate for either participating in the original expansion program or participating with conditions (waivers) to address the critical gap in coverage for vulnerable adults in your state. Waivers such as Section 1115 enable for alternative implementation of Medicaid expansion and allow states to impose restrictions which may result in a denial of Medicaid eligibility for individuals who do not meet those restrictions, i.e., work requirements.

Looking to Review My submission to do better.

Instructions

Research the Medicaid expansion program offered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as well as Medicaid reform initiatives using waivers to increase access to Medicaid. Determine, based on your state’s profile, which process (the ACA’s expansion program or the use of waivers) is most beneficial to your state. Include a comprehensive, well-supported recommendation for participation in Medicaid reform using either the ACA’s program or a modified reform process using waivers.

Your advocacy report should describe your state’s current Medicaid program including its eligibility criteria, demographics, Medicaid spending and savings since the ACA’s implementation, and comprehensive details of current or pending waivers. You should also include a discussion (benchmark) on another state’s success with Medicaid reform using your recommended strategy (the ACA’s expansion program or the use of the specific types of waivers for which you propose).

This assignment requires the students to utilize credible sources, electronic or hard, to 'discover' definitions .

However, as part of the assignment, you will choose what sources you want to use!

Any source is applicable as long as it considered 'credible'.

Students: Please plan on spending about twenty minutes per term locating, reading, and choosing what definitions to use for each of the terms, and then additional time correctly citing your source in APA style.

Again, part of the assignment requires you to locate credible sources for your definitions.

So what if you have never had to use a credible source for a research project before? Don't worry!

Please contact a librarian or use an introduction to research site to learn what is considered a credible source.

Again, part of this assignment requires that you are going to be the person who determines what a credible source is!

Learning Activities

Begin By Creating A Page Titled, "Definitions'

Next, Complete These Five Activities:

1.) Define And Discuss The Term 'Public'

    Locate definitions from two credible sources, with one being a government source.

       Cut and paste or retype the definitions word for word.

       Cite each source using APA style

    Provide a brief of your findings by discussing similarities and differences in a one to two sentence overview.

2.) Define And Discuss The Term 'Health',

       Locate definitions from two credible sources, with one being a government source .

       Cut and paste or retype the definitions word for word.

       Cite each source using APA style

    Provide a brief of your findings by discussing similarities and differences in a one to two sentence overview.

3.) Define And Discuss The Term 'Public Health'

       Locate definitions from two credible sources, with one being a government source.

       Cut and paste or retype the definitions word for word.

       Cite each source using APA style

    Provide a brief of your findings by discussing similarities and differences in a one to two sentence overview.

4.) Define And Discuss The Term 'Safety'

    Locate definitions from two credible sources, with one being a government source.

       Cut and paste or retype the definitions word for word.

       Cite each source using APA style

    Provide a brief of your findings by discussing similarities and differences in a one to two sentence overview.

5.) Define And Discuss The Terms:

       A.) 'Environmental Health' and 

B.) 'Sanitation'

    Locate definitions from two credible sources, with one being a government source.

       Cut and paste or retype the definitions word for word.

       Cite each source using APA style

    Provide a brief of your findings by discussing similarities and differences in a one to two sentence overview.

• Instructional materials are determined by you, the student, for this assignment!
  And remember, all sources must be credible and you must make that determination!
  But here is a site from the University of Maryland to get you started:
     https://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/credibility.cfm
  Hint: Cut and paste this url!
  As you can tell, I did not make it an easy click on link! This is on purpose! You are highly encouraged to explore and search on your own!