The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also called The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare)
Topic: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also called The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare)
Order Description
SOCW 2363 Policy Brief and Analysis Assignment
You are to prepare a 5-7 page paper (a policy brief and accompanying analysis) for one policy from the list provided to you. This paper should contain the following information: 1) problem description; 2) title and brief description of the policy you have selected that addresses the problem; 3) the goals and objectives of the policy; 4) a description of the benefits and/or services provided under the policy; 5) eligibility rules (be sure to include estimates of those eligible and those receiving services); 6) service delivery system(s); 7) financing; and 8) analysis of the cost-effectiveness and outcomes of the policy. (See Chapin Chapter 5, pp. 185-194, for additional information.)
The policy brief/analysis assignment is worth 30% of your overall course grade and is due by 11:59pm on Sunday, May 1, 2016. The assignment should be prepared as follows: a) 5-7 pages, not including the title or reference pages; b) 1 margins; c) double-spaced; d) 12-point Times New Roman; and e) subheadings (see below). You should primarily use your own words to describe and analyze this policy; however, you may use some short quotes from peer-reviewed literature and federal government policy websites, if cited properly using APA 5th or 6th edition style. Cite all of your sources and place them in the reference page. A good rule of thumb is two references per page of text (i.e., roughly 10-14 references, including the policy itself, for this brief).
Students may submit their papers through the Turnitin.com link multiple times up until the due date to make use of the originality reports in revising papers. I highly suggest that students do this to avoid improper paraphrasing (automatic 30-point deduction) and plagiarism (automatic 0 on the paper).
I. Description of the Problem (~ 1 page)
Problem scope WHY?
What is the nature of the problem that the policy is intended to address?
What is the extent (scope) of the problem?
How many are affected by this problem? (Use specific statistics)
Why is a policy necessary to address this problem?
II. Title and Description of Relevant Policy (~ 1 page)
Formal title of the policy
Detailed description of the policy
III. Policy Goals and Objectives (~ ½ page)
Goals WHAT?
What should this policy accomplish?
What are the Manifest and Latent Goals?
?
IIII. Benefits and/or Programs and Services (~ ½ page)
Benefits & Services WHAT?
What is to be delivered? (Is this benefit/service designed to help people overcome barriers to meeting their needs? Or, does the benefit/service exist to correct some deficit or behavior? How much consumer choice is allowed?
V. Eligibility Rules (~ ½ page)
Eligibility Rules WHO?
Who can receive benefits? Who are the clients? (Can be universal
all children all workers or, selective means-tested (financial), disease-specific, etc.)
VI. Service Delivery System (~ ½ page)
Service Delivery Systems HOW?
How will services/benefits be implemented? (Hospitals, schools, non-profit agencies, government offices, etc.)
VII. Financing (~ ½ page)
Financing HOW?
How will this be paid for? (Taxes? Fees? Licenses?)
VIII. Policy Analysis (~2 pages)
In terms of your analysis, you should answer questions such as the following:
How effective (in terms of achieving its goals) and cost-effective is the policy?
How efficient is the policy?
Is the policy ethically sound? (according to social work values and ethics)
What does evaluation of potential alternative policies reveal? Are there suitable alternatives?
What recommendations can be established for positive changes to the policy?
Remember to cite the policy itself, peer-reviewed literature, and other policy sources (government documents, etc.) and be thorough in your analysis.
SOCW 2363 Policy Brief and Analysis Assignment
Grading Criteria
Point Value
Was Criteria Met?
Policy Brief
o Selects a policy from the Eligible Policy list
o Reviews the policy and provides written summaries of the following information from the text of the policy and peer-reviewed and other appropriate sources: 1) problem description; 2) title and brief description of the policy you have selected that addresses the problem; 3) the goals and objectives of the policy; 4) a description of the benefits and/or services provided under the policy; 5) eligibility rules (be sure to include estimates of those eligible and those receiving services); 6) service delivery system(s); and 7) financing.
60 points
o Excellent, required elements of the policy are well-described and accurate, using demographic statistics, peer-reviewed literature, government websites, and other scholarly materials (up to 60 points)
o Fair, description provides only surface-level details of the policy, and statements concerning the policy are not well-researched or cited. (partial credit, 48 points max)
o Poor, policy is not appropriate as the focus of the assignment and/or no meaningful description of the required elements is provided from any sources. (0 points)
Policy Analysis
o Selects peer-reviewed literature (using available electronic databases and key word searches) to form the basis for a policy analysis
o May use government documents/websites and other scholarly materials
o Analysis provides information on policys effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and other elements
30 points
o Excellent, analysis of the policy is thorough and well-researched, using demographic statistics, peer-reviewed literature, government websites, and other scholarly materials (up to 30 points)
o Fair, analysis provides only cursory evaluation, and/or primarily cites books, popular press, and non-government websites, and/or very little literature is used to source statements in the analysis. (partial credit, 15 points max)
o Poor, no meaningful literature/sources used in analyzing the policy (i.e., paper is primarily students unsubstantiated opinions; 0 points)
Overall Presentation of Paper
o Uses professionally- and culturally-appropriate language
o Contains APA-style format, citations, and references
o Provides APA-style Title and reference pages
o Free from grammatical errors
10 points
o Excellent, minor errors (up to 10 points)
o Fair, moderate errors (partial credit, 5 points max)
o Poor, clear lack of editing and/or evidence of improper paraphrasing (0 points)
