Chapter Sixteen:

Domestic Policy

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Learning Objectives

Describe and explain the significance of the policymaking process and each of its stages:

Agenda building,Policy formulation,Policy adoption,Policy implementation, andPolicy evaluation.

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Learning Objectives

Discuss the rising cost of heath care and provide several reasons for this trend.

Identify which citizens are covered by Medicare and Medicaid and how each of these federal programs is financed.

Explain how national health insurance works and provide some international examples.

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Learning Objectives

Explain the main provisions of the 2010 Health Reform Legislation. Articulate the reasons for adopting this approach to health care reform and the major objections to the legislation.

Explain the origins of the modern environmental movement and evaluate the effectiveness of the major legislation (e.g., Clean Air Act of 1990; Clean Water Act of 1972; Endangered Species Act) to improve the environment.

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Learning Objectives

Explain what global warming is, basic provisions of the Kyoto treaty, and the nature of the political dispute over global warming.

Identify the major challenges in constructing a comprehensive energy policy in the United States.

Explain how energy policy is related to environmental policy?

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Learning Objectives

Explain how the government determines who is in a state of poverty.

Briefly describe major government programs to reduce poverty, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, and the earned income tax credit (EITC).

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Learning Objectives

Compare and contrast the benefits and costs associated with high rates of immigration.

Give one or more reasons crime rates vary over time.

Define the incarceration rate and compare U.S. incarceration rates with those of other nations.

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The Policymaking Process

Agenda BuildingPolicy FormulationPolicy AdoptionPolicy ImplementationPolicy Evaluation

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The Policymaking Process9

Health Care

Advanced TechnologyGovernment’s Role in Financing Health Care:

Medicare Medicaid

The Uninsured Uninsured Employed

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Health Care11

Health Care12

2010 Health Care Reform Legislation

New law on a combination of private insurance, public programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and new state-based non-profit health exchanges to provide health insurance coverage to almost all Americans.

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2010 Health Care Reform Legislation

Major provisions of the new health policy legislation:

Requires all Americans who earn wages to have a health insurance policy.

Employers may purchase private insurance as they do currently or, by 2017, participate in the state-based exchanges as well.

Eligibility for Medicaid will be expanded as will insurance options for children of low-earning families.

Prescription costs for seniors will be discounted gradually until all their costs are covered.

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2010 Health Care Reform Legislation

The health insurance industry also received new mandates:

to insure younger Americans, up to age 26, on their parents' policies.

to not drop coverage for those who become ill.to eliminate lifetime limits on coverage.

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Environmental Policy

Environmentalism: Conservation Preservation

Environmentalist Movement

Ecology

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Environmental Policy

Cleaning Up the Air and Water

The National Environmental Policy Act Curbing Air Pollution: The 1990 amendments to

Clean Air Act of 1963 led to a comprehensive policy mandating cleaner air in urban areas.

Water Pollution: Clean Water Act sought to make waters safe for swimming, protect fish and wildlife, and eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the water.

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Environmental Policy

Cost-Effective Solution:

The Clean Air Act of 1990:

As a result of this law, air and water pollution is down dramatically from what it was three or so decades ago.

Lead content in the air is 3% of what it was.

Sulfur dioxide is down by four-fifths.

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Environmental Policy

Other Environmental Issues:

The Endangered Species Act

Global Warming The Kyoto Protocol The Global Warming Debate

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Energy Policy

Energy policy: laws that are concerned with how much energy is needed and used.

Energy and the EnvironmentNuclear Power—An

Unpopular Solution

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Energy Policy21

Energy Policy22

Energy Policy

Alternative Approaches to an Energy Crisis

Wind Farms Hybrid Cars Energy efficient homes Cap and trade system

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Poverty and Welfare

Income transfers: government transfers of income from some individuals in the economy to other individuals.

Low Income Population

Anti-poverty Budget

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Poverty and Welfare25

Poverty and Welfare

Basic Welfare:

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

Welfare Controversies

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Poverty and Welfare

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Farm Subsidies

Homelessness

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Immigration

The Continued Influx of Immigrants: More than a million people a year immigrate to this country.

Minority groups will constitute the “majority” of America by 2060.

Positives of immigration—offsetting the low birthrate and aging population.

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Immigration

Attempts at Immigration Reform

2006 Congress initiated, but did not pass, sweeping legislation that would designate all illegal immigrants as felons in the United States.

Congress passed legislation authorizing the construction of a 700-mile-long fence between the United States and Mexico.

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Immigration

Attempts at Immigration Reform (Continued)

In 2010 Arizona passed a law that required state and local police to check an individual's citizenship or residency papers if they had been stopped on suspicion of an offense.

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Crime in the 21st Century

Crime in American History

Committed by Juveniles: School Shootings

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Crime in the 21st Century32

Crime in the 21st Century

• The Cost of Crime to American Societyo Prison Population Bomb:

Incarceration Rate International Comparisons Prison Construction Effects of Incarceration

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Crime in the 21st Century34

Crime in the 21st Century35

Crime in the 21st Century

Federal Drug Policy: Money spent on federal drug interdiction programs has not met with much success, as illegal drug consumption in the United States has remained steady.

Confronting Terrorism: Counter-terrorism strategies will necessarily be a part of federal government policy for years to come.

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Web Links

U.S. Census Bureau: reports current statistics on poverty in the United States: www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html.

Federal Bureau of Investigation: since 1930 collects, publishes, and archives statistics from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program: www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm.

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What If…We Had Universal Health Care?

Today the United States has a private health care system with about 40% of Americans using government programs to pay for their health insurance.

Most wealthy nations have universal, government-administered health insurance systems, while the United States prefers a private insurance model.

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What If…We Had Universal Health Care?

If a universal health care plan is implemented:

Number of people without purchased health insurance will increase.

Number of those who do not have private health insurance will increase.

Burden on hospitals and clinics will increase. Costs to the government.

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You Can Make a Difference—Doing Your Part: Global Warming

Consensus exists among most scientists and climate researchers that global warming is here and will impact sea levels, rainfall patterns, and snow and ice cover.

Human beings probably are tipping the ecological balance in the atmosphere with increased population, deforestation, cars, factories, and power plants.

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You Can Make a Difference—Doing Your Part: Global Warming

Here’s what you can do:

Switch to Energy Star fluorescent light bulbs.Try walking, taking public transportation, or riding

a bike.Recycle as much as possible.Buy recycled products and goods with less

packaging .Choose to buy green electricity, generated by wind

or solar power.

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You Can Make a Difference—Doing Your Part: Global Warming

Buy local produce. Educate yourself about global warming and

climate change.Let your elected representatives know you care

about global warming; urge them to support actions to reduce pollution and save energy.

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You Can Make a Difference—Doing Your Part: Global Warming

Create a climate-friendly environment on your college campus.

Seek out and support nonprofit groups that support green legislation.

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You Can Make a Difference—Doing Your Part: Global Warming

Clean Air–Cool Planet: can help develop a Campus Climate Action Plan Toolkit, available to anyone who is interested in making colleges more climate-friendly. For more information, go to www.cleanair-coolplanet.org.

Focus the Nation: offers information on how to plan events to get your campus involved, contests promoting creative solutions, and to participate politically. For more information, contact: www.focusthenation.org.

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