Legislation on Cost Containment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Legislation on Cost Containment - Essay Example This aspect is particularly relevant to state-level policymaking. No universal cost containment measure is adopted in the United States and, instead, states were free to pursue their own models, tailored according to their specific needs, targets and circumstance (e.g. political and economic). This is not really surprising because: 1) states have been active players in health reform; and, 2) the health reform law is full of state obligations as well as opportunities for state innovation (Teitelbaum, and Wilensky, 2012, p.180). Back in 2003, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Standing Committee released a white paper outlining possible cost saving ideas that state legislators could enact. These were composed of many possible ideas classified into nine categories, which include: direct cost containment; prescription drug ideas; cost shifting ideas; workforce expansion; health insurance reform; subsidy and uninsured care; medical error and medical malpractice; preventive and public health ideas; and, Medicaid ideas. The ideas were numerous and many states, thereafter, adopted an idea, a part of some or a combination of ideas for their own cost containment initiatives. One of the most important of these ideas, in my opinion, is that framework that seeks to cut cost by addressing medical errors and medical malpractice. In the NCSL (2003) compilation, initiatives within this cost containment classification include the legislation of laws that will ensure the regulation of the payment for damages (VII-1); the elimination of frivolous lawsuits (VII-2); as well as the establishment of mechanisms to ensure quality and compliance to health and safety standards (VII-4, VII-5, V-II-6). The NCSL has provided a lean list of ideas in this particular area. But I think that this is one of the most viable models that could easily pass the process of legislation. In policymaking, public opinion is

HATE CRIME Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

HATE CRIME - Essay Example According to Dr. Jack McDevitt, hate crimes are â€Å"message crimes,† which tell the victim and the minority group to which he belongs, that they are not welcome in that society (cited in APA Position paper, 1998). As such, hate crimes have the potential to alienate whole sections of society and lead to fragmentation. In the face of such clear-cut danger to society, it is imperative that unambiguous, punitive legislation against hate crimes needs to be enacted and put into execution at the earliest. The entry of the term ‘hate crimes’ into common vocabulary can be traced to the Justice Departments’ ‘hate crime statistics’ in 1985 (Jacobs and Potter, cited in Siasoco, 1999). The official definition of a hate crime or a bias crime is â€Å"a criminal offense committed against a person, property or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offenders’ bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity/national origin† (Robinson, 2003). The perpetrators of hate crimes are generally young adults and strangers to the victims. While some of them may be members of hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the vast majority are otherwise law-abiding individuals, whose personal biases stem from the social norms governing their environment. They often feel that they are morally justified and supported by society in their attacks on people perceived to be ‘different.’ The leading basis of hate crimes continues to be racism, with African-Americans bearing the brunt of the attacks, a particularly heinous case being the dragging to death of James Byrd in Texas in June 1998. Ethnic minorities are targeted because of their different lifestyles and their success being perceived as a threat to the employment and financial opportunities of the ‘natives.’ David Ritcheson, a Latino, was sodomized and savagely