Policy Paper topic: Reduce the price of prescription drugs (Prescription Drug Reform)

A policy brief should be succinct and targeted to a stakeholder: elected officials (politicians), appointed officials (e.g., the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), players within the healthcare industry (e.g., insurers, hospitals, physician organizations, biotechnology companies), advocacy groups, or donors. It should be written assuming (1) that the reader has some knowledge of the topic area, but is not an expert, and (2) the reader has a limited amount of time to make a practical decision. The emphasis should be on presenting practical solutions and solving the problem that you described in your problem statement.

Narrative & Issue Brief Formatting Guidelines

10-page maximum, excluding references.

12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, 1” margins all around.

Include Page Numbers

All assignments should be submitted as Microsoft Word documents (.doc or .docx)

All papers must include in-text citations and a reference list.

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If you are not familiar with citing research in your writing, please review the course syllabus for information on what university resources are available to help you learn how to properly cite sources (it is strongly suggested that you use reference software such as Zotero or EndNote).

Topic Choice

You may choose any topic of interest to you that is related to the course. The topic that you pick should be manageable with enough credible literature to provide an in-depth discussion of the issue. Your section TFs can help you identify a suitable topic.

Problem Statement, Background, and Policy Landscape (approx. 3-5 pages suggested)

This section will introduce the policy problem, clearly provide the reader with a problem statement, demonstrate the extent of the problem, and, overall, offer a clear rationale for why the problem must be addressed. As applicable, point out any gaps in relevant existing policies that should be addressed. Additionally, you should identify and briefly describe several key stakeholders and their interests with respect to the problem. Be concise: you are distilling a lot of information for a busy person with a limited amount of time to understand the problem and make a practical decision to resolve it.

Policy Options and Discussion (approx. 4-5 pages suggested)

The goals of this section are (1) to highlight 2 of the most viable policy options to address the problem you have identified and (2) to present a discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of each. Strong papers will make excellent use of authoritative, objective, thoughtful, and diverse research/data/literature to formulate and evaluate policy options.

Recommendation (approx. 1-2 pages suggested)

This section will conclude the paper with a clear recommendation of one of the policy options you have already identified and a rationale for why this is the best/most preferred option. Your recommendation should be fully supported by the discussion presented in the previous section. You may not recommend a “hybrid” of two or more policy options or an option that you did not discuss/evaluate in the previous section.

Citations and References
• A minimum of 10 authoritative, objective, thoughtful, and diverse academic references must be consulted and cited within the text of your paper. An outstanding paper will use many more. Grounding your ideas and arguments in the research/data/literature makes them more credible.
• Choose a standard format for in-text citations and references (e.g., APA, Chicago, MLA) and be consistent throughout your entire paper. It is strongly suggested that you use Zotero or EndNote.
• Journal articles, online sources (e.g., policy briefs from think tanks, newspaper articles, opinion pieces), and books may be used as references. Wikipedia is not a reference.
• See the course syllabus for additional information related to research, writing, organizing and citing academic sources. You can (and should) speak with your TF if you have any questions or are unsure if the research materials you located are appropriate for this assignment