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Introduction
This essay provides a discussion of issues of competing interests. It also provides a discourse on public policies, democratic governance, and policy networks. It finally concludes by stating the insights about the relationship between democratic governance and policy networks.
Issues of Health Care
Everyone wants good health conditions. This is why the US Government has been working hard to come up with an appropriate health care policy that enables every citizen of the United States to afford the best health care services (Barr, 2011). However, the formulation of health care policy in the United States, and even in other countries, is often influenced by different competing interests (Holtz, 2008).
A competing interest is often referred to as a conflict of interests. It exists when a professional judgment that concerns a primary interest may be influenced by secondary factors or interests. Some of the competing interests in the health care sector include physicians, citizens or patients, policymakers, and the working class. Added into the intricacy are the democratic and republican parties whose interests and opinions are also divergent. This scenario makes a policy formulation process to be a complex affair (Sultz & Young, 2010; Morrison, 2009).
The Role of Competing Interests in a Health Care Policy Formulation
Competing interests play a major role in the formulation of a health care policy. In this regard, it is important to note that policymakers are not the only ones who formulate relevant policies (Almgren, 2012). All actors have to be included in the process if it is to be successful. In the case of a health care policy, all actors such as physicians, citizens, and other industry players must be involved (Almgren, 2012). During a policy formulation process, not all stakeholders or competing interests view every stage through the same lens; they differ in terms of proposals, values, and demands. Therefore, a common agreement among the competing interests is crucial for a successful formulation of a health care policy (Almgren, 2012).
Competing interest groups with stakes in a health care policy can use all forms of influence to achieve the desired outcome. The interest groups represent different citizens with varying needs and whose interests need to be articulated when health care policies are being formulated (Almgren, 2012). In this case, an interest group may decide that the contents of a particular health care policy do not favor the values and beliefs of its members, in which case it may decide to reject the policy and hence jeopardize the process (Almgren, 2012). Thus, taking into account the interests and opinions of various stakeholders is very important if a policy formulation process is to succeed. This means that a final policy should be acceptable to most of the actors with competing interests for it to be implementable (Almgren, 2012).
The Issue Selected
The selected issue is in the area of health care policy. As described in the previous section, health care is one of the greatest concerns of the government. To this end, the government has come up with a health care policy that enables all citizens to get affordable health care services. According to the World Health Organization, the enjoyments of the highest achievable standards are some of the basic human rights that every individual should have (Lee, 2008). This is what has been driving the formulation of health care policies that should enable every American citizen to achieve the highest possible health standards at affordable rates.
Actors and Organizations in the Health Care Policy Network
Some many actors and organizations are involved in the health care policy networks (Clendon, 2011). The primary actors are the individual citizens whose interests the health care policy is supposed to serve. In addition, the network also includes nurses, physicians, and individual politicians. The organizations that are involved in the network include National Quality Forum, the Agency for Healthcare Research, insurance firms, political parties, and Quality and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Alaszewski & Brown, 2011). These are the actors and organizations that shape the health care policy formulation initiatives. The organizations may act on their own or behalf of all citizens.
The Influence of Democratic Governance on Health Care Policy Networks
The health care policy network is greatly influenced by democratic governance principles. It is important to note that high standards of health care services form a crucial component of human rights. The World Health Organization contends that every human being needs to achieve the highest standard health conditions. In light of this, different actors and organizations are driven by democratic principles and concepts in their lobby for favorable health care policies (Bryant, 2009).
Democracy recognizes that individuals and groups have competing interests, all of which may not be satisfied at the same time (Al-Hakim, 2007). In such a case, one of the democratic principles that can apply to prevent absurdities is the need to compromise. Compromising is a concept that is used to establish a synergy so that each of the competing interests does not consider itself either as a loser or a winner over the rest. In this case, each of the groups gets satisfied with a policy outcome (Al-Hakim, 2007).
Noteworthy is the fact that policy networks can only exist where there is democratic governance. This means that such networks cannot exist if the government does not provide the kind of environment that encourages their operations. Therefore, the operations of the policy networks are dependent on the form of governance in place. Concerning the United States, the democratic environment has allowed different policy networks to provide their contributions during policy formulation processes (Boase, 2011).
The rule of law is one of the pillars of democratic governance (Ball, 2012). This principle requires that everybody is under existing laws (Ball, 2012). Concerning this, policy networks plan their operations in ways that do not violate or appear to contravene the legal statutes that either regulate them or bind on everybody (Ball, 2012). Taking this into consideration, policy networks use the law to regulate themselves so that their interests are only pursued concerning the laws of the land (Ball, 2012).
Democratic governance allows for freedom of speech. Without this freedom, policy networks may not be able to operate effectively. This is because their operations greatly depend on how their members are free to articulate their ideas to policymakers (Ball, 2012).
Conclusion
One of the insights gained from this evaluation is that there is a significant link between democratic governance and the operations of network policies. The networks are in existence due to democratic governance. Besides, their operations are controlled by the rule of law; this means that they cannot violate legal statutes that either control them or bind everybody within the US territory. The second insight is that democratic governance allows for the representation of divergent views of different stakeholders in the policy formulation processes.
References
Alaszewski, A., & Brown, P. (2011). Making Health Policy: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Al-Hakim, L. (2007). Global E-Government: Theory, Applications and Benchmarking. London, UK: Idea Group Inc (IGI).
Almgren, G. (2012). Health Care Politics, Policy, and Services: A Social Justice Analysis. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company.
Ball, S. (2012). Global Policy Networks, Social Enterprise and Edu-business. New York, NY: Routledge.
Barr, D. (2011). Introduction to U.S. Health Policy: The Organization, Financing, and Delivery of Health Care in America. Baltimore, ML: JHU Press.
Boase, P. (2011). Government-Group Relationships in the US Health Care Sector. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Bryant, T. (2009). An Introduction to Health Policy. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Scholars Press.
Clendon, S. (2010). Community Health and Wellness: Primary Health Care in Practice. Chatswood, New South Wales: Elsevier Australia.
Holtz, C. (2008). Global Health Care: Issues and Policies. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Lee, K. (2008). The World Health Organization (WHO). New York, NY: Routledge.
Morrison, E. (2009). Health Care Ethics: Critical Issues for the 21st Century. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Sultz, H., & Young, K. (2010). Health Care USA. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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