Responsibility and roles of the appropriations committee
The Government of the United States has an important role to play in all the three stages of health care reform that include the policy formulation phase, policy implementation phase and policy modification stage (Longest, 2016). The policy formulation stage in health care reform concentrates on creating and developing efficient reforms to respond to pressing health care issues. The policy implementation stage concerns the application of the new policies in their political and socio-economic context. However, the most important stage of the health care reform is the implementation stage that mobilizes financial and human resources to adapt the new policy (Longest, 2016). The appropriations committee has a big role in public health spending because of the relevance of the implementation stage in health care reform that involves evaluation, mobilizing various systems and financial to execute new policies.
The Senate Appropriations Committee in the US passes legislation on any financial appropriations before the money that is got from the Federal treasury is spent (Committee on Appropriations, 2017). The committee writes laws that set federal funds for government departments like the state Department of Health. It is responsible for reviewing budget request from the Department of Health, evaluating the financial need of the department and drafts the expenditure of the department. Additionally, the Appropriations Committee is responsible for making supplementary bills to cater for the expense that was not planned for at the beginning of the financial year (Committee on Appropriations, 2017). Therefore, the responsibilities and role of the appropriations committee as it relates to Medicare and Medicaid program is to review, modify and approve the budget of Medicare and Medicaid programs. The Medicare and Medicaid program that has helped many Americans to receive quality health care by enhancing affordability, accessibility and increasing health coverage(Longest, 2016) could have not gone through with the oversight of the appropriations committee.
References
Committee on Appropriations,. (2017). Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives. Appropriations.house.gov. Retrieved 2 February 2017, from http://appropriations.house.gov/about/
Longest, B. (2016). Health policymaking in the United States.
