Changing Policy, Changing Lives of People with Chronic Illness
Welcome to this week’s discussion! A few suggestions to improve your success in this week’s discussion are as follows. Make your first post no later than Wednesday and be sure to post frequently throughout the week. Avoid mini-papers that seek to answer the questions in one essay. Instead, add substantively and contextually to the discussion, reading and responding to one another as you work through the discussion. We will go through the questions one at a time, moving on to the next question once we have fully explored the current one.
 
Please jump right into the opinion based question. Once you have completed this question, go back and finish your readings. Then return to engage with one another on the rest of the questions, starting with the first question and going forward one question at a time.
 
In recent years, most of us have heard media reports on governmental attempts to legislate our health habits. A much-publicized recent policy was New York City’s fight to ban large-sized sugary drinks over the past several years. Many believe that the government is going too far, particularly now in light of recent attempts by some local and state governments to legislate access to high sugar beverages, while supporters believe that Americans need policies in place to help them toward healthier living.
 
In your opinion, is governmental policy that bans or places special taxes on certain beverages, foods, or other products meeting a public health need or is the government going too far? How so?
 
Now, let’s apply this week’s learning materials to address the remaining questions, one at a time. For each question below, be sure to bring in concrete examples from your readings (required) and from your experiences and other sources as appropriate.
 
You have read about a variety of policies related to health and chronic illness. What roles can health policy play in promoting better health outcomes for people with chronic illnesses?
 
Let’s consider access. How does health care access in our country tend to differ for older adults versus younger adults, men versus women, and between members of various cultural groups? (Don’t limit yourself to age or ethnicity; rather consider the many diverse groups we have learned about this term in your conversation.) To what extent does/should health policy help certain groups get access to culturally resonant services, e.g. alternative health?
 
As you think about the policies you have been discussing together over the few several days, are there certain policies that seem to fall short for certain groups? Is it inevitable that some groups within a society or community will not have their needs met through health policy? How do we use health policy as an intervention to reach as many as possible? Please apply your readings carefully to support your recommendations.