Policymaking: Means and Ends

Recently we defined rationality as means-ends calculation. One defines the goals they they want to achieve, and then figures out the means, or ways, of acieving those goals.

In a representative democracy, one goal is winning elections; since elections are organized around parties, party-building activities are important.

One virtue of the Hacker and Pierson book is its emphasis on party discipline and "power brokers." One vice is that they do not come across as neutral analysts. So sometime it is difficult to evaluate their argument -- we get distracted by their language.

In this final section of the course, I want to emphasize the politics of policy making --

“politics is the struggle over power, or influence within organizations or informal groups that can grant benefits or privileges.” (BSS, 3)

So we want to ask, who stands to benefit from this policy?

Chapter 14 begins with a discussion of the five stages of the policy making process, with an application to Medicare Part D: the Prescription Drug Benefit. Who stands to benefit from it?

1) Seniors, who might have assistance in purchasing drugs.

2) The Republican Party, which gets the support of seniors, who have been helped by this. (see figure 8-4, page 260 of BSS to se the Democrats' advantage on this issue)

3) Insurance Companies

The Wall Street Journal

April 21, 2006

Large Insurers Are Big Winners
In New Medicare Benefit
By SARAH LUECK and VANESSA FUHRMANS
April 21, 2006; Page B1

With the May 15 enrollment deadline for the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit approaching, private insurers and the government are making a last-ditch push to sign people up and declare the venture a success. Already, though, the massive effort has produced clear winners and losers among businesses and seniors.

The early winners include some of the nation's largest health plans, which are peddling the drug coverage. After a rocky start in January, the plans have snagged roughly 15 million new customers and healthy government subsidies. Also buoyed: drug makers, which are reporting increased demand for some products used by seniors, such as drugs for chronic conditions. Many seniors are also giving the benefit good reviews, despite initial confusion about which plan to choose.

In this story you get the end of drug coverage, and importantly, the means of "private market".

See the discussion of Policy Formulation, page 467: Democrats would have been likely to create a bill to provide the coverage through a single payer; Republican's "private" system means government cannot negotiate with business (drug companies) for lower costs.

So keep in mind: its not only the what government chooses to do, but the how (and there is a reason conservatives want to replace FDR with Reagan on the dime). As a voter, you can decide which you like better. As a student of politics, you need to understand the politics of policymaking.