Question

View the video "One School's Fight: The Making of a Law," located at the following link:

http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/one-schools-fight-the-making-of-a-law

Describe how the school was able to get a bill passed in congress in order to solve its funding problems. How might this process be applied to solve a problem in health care?

Answer 1

After reviewing the video, I learned that the Wawona School in Yosemite National Park which held grades K-6th grade lacked proper education funding. It is said in the video that the students did not even have the appropriate textbooks and equipment due to limited school funds. The education committee then sought help from one of their congressmen, George Radanovich. The idea was to create a bill that would allow federal funds support the education needs of the school. After creation of the bill, they went through a very lengthy process to evolve it into a law although everyone thought it would be an easy and simple process. As each step of the bill to law evolution passed and the bill continued on, the school and congressman became excited but the bill encountered some mishap when it passed the House and was introduced to the Senate. The bill had unfortunately died because it was not passed in time and the wording needed to be adjusted and the misfortune kept coming as the bill died a total of two times and had to be reintroduced three times. In total, the school and congressman Radanovich worked for 4 years in an effort to evolve this bill into a law before it was approved. Originally the bill requested funding of $750,000 but was only approved for $350,000 once the law was introduced, which was less than they expected, but they were all very excited to see it passed after all of their hard work.

This process could be applied to the health care industry by introducing new ideas and concepts to congress in an effort to better the system. Although it is a lengthy process, if the population was able to apply new concepts and compromise in certain areas there is a high possibility that a bill can advance into a law to help create a more equal standard for cost, quality, and access to ensure that each individual- patient, provider, and payer remains content.

Resource: http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/page/one-schools-fight-the-making-of-a-law