| Course | HLTH 3110 Current Issues in Healthcare Policy and Practice |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 10 |
| Paper type | Legislative brief |
| Length | About 600 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | BS in Healthcare Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HLTH 3110 Week 10
Legislative Brief: Ask for the Postpartum Coverage Audit Results at This Year's Medicaid Budget Hearing
Student Name
Walden University
HLTH 3110: Current Issues in Healthcare Policy and Practice
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Legislative Brief: Ask for the Postpartum Coverage Audit Results at This Year's Medicaid Budget Hearing
For the Senator Who Chairs the Health Committee
The request. At this year's Medicaid budget hearing, please ask the Medicaid director two questions: how many people in pregnancy-related coverage had their coverage end before 12 months after pregnancy since the state adopted the 12-month option, and what the agency is doing about it. Please also support a modest outreach line, estimated by agency staff, for notices to postpartum enrollees and a fact sheet for clinics.
Why it matters to the committee. The legislature chose to provide 12 months of postpartum coverage, and the budget pays for it. Whether people actually keep that coverage depends on eligibility systems, notices and clinic staff. If coverage is ending early, the state is paying for a policy that is not fully reaching the people it was meant for. Asking the question costs nothing and gives the agency a reason to find the answer.
Background in Brief
Federal law first allowed states to extend postpartum Medicaid from about 60 days to 12 months beginning in April 2022, and later made the option permanent (Pub. L. No. 117-2; Pub. L. No. 117-328). Our state adopted it. The extension responds to evidence that many pregnancy-related deaths occur well after the first postpartum week, up to a year after pregnancy ends, and that most are considered preventable by the review committees that study them (Trost et al., 2022). Coverage changes and gaps around childbirth were common before the extension, especially among people with Medicaid (Daw et al., 2017).
What Could Go Wrong
Three problems can end coverage early even after a state adopts the extension: eligibility records created before the change may still carry the old end date; notices sent to old addresses can lead to procedural closures; and clinic staff who learned the old rule may tell patients their coverage is ending. A front-desk worker relying on an outdated record can, without doing anything wrong, tell an eligible patient she is about to lose coverage. These problems are invisible in the agency's adoption paperwork and show up only in case-level data.
What the Audit Would Cost and Show
An audit of closures in pregnancy-related categories over the past year uses data the agency already holds. Its cost is staff time and, if fixes are needed, vendor time for system changes. An illustrative analysis prepared for this brief estimated that the extension's recurring state cost is many times larger than a one-time audit and outreach effort, so verification protects a much larger investment. The audit would show how many early closures occurred, why, and whether they are concentrated in older cases, procedural closures or particular regions.
Suggested Questions for the Hearing
1. Since adopting the 12-month option, how many enrollees in pregnancy-related coverage had coverage end before 12 months, and what were the reasons?
2. Were all older cases converted to the 12-month end date, and when was that confirmed?
3. How many notices to postpartum enrollees were returned as undeliverable last year?
4. What has the agency told clinics and health plans about the change?
5. What would it cost to send two plain-language notices to each postpartum enrollee confirming coverage continues?
What This Brief Does Not Ask
This brief does not ask for new eligibility, new benefits or a change to the 12-month period. It asks the committee to confirm that a policy it already funds is working. Front-line delivery shapes what any policy becomes in practice (Lipsky, 2010), and legislative oversight is one of the few tools that reaches that level.
References
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 117-2, 135 Stat. 4 (2021).
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, Pub. L. No. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4459 (2022).
Daw, J. R., Hatfield, L. A., Swartz, K., & Sommers, B. D. (2017). Women in the United States experience high rates of coverage 'churn' in months before and after childbirth. Health Affairs, 36(4), 598-606. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1241
Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services (30th anniversary expanded ed.). Russell Sage Foundation.
Trost, S. L., Beauregard, J., Njie, F., Berry, J., Harvey, A., & Goodman, D. A. (2022). Pregnancy-related deaths: Data from maternal mortality review committees in 36 US states, 2017-2019. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Reading the HLTH 3110 Week 10 instructions
A legislative brief at this point usually asks you to write for someone who could actually move a policy. Open with the request, not the background, so the reader knows what you want in the first lines. Explain why it matters to that reader's responsibilities, such as oversight of money the legislature already approved. Keep background short and sourced. Explain the problem in plain language a legislator could repeat in a hearing. Describe costs honestly. Offer practical tools, such as questions the legislator could ask. State what you are not asking for, which lowers resistance. Keep the brief short, scannable and free of jargon.
How the HLTH 3110 Week 10 example is put together
The first section states the request and the committee's reason to care. The background section gives the federal laws and the review committee findings in one paragraph and cites Daw and colleagues on gaps around birth. The problem section explains outdated records, returned notices and outdated clinic information, with the front-desk example. The cost section explains that an audit uses existing data and protects a much larger recurring investment. The questions section lists five questions for the Medicaid director. The final section states that the brief asks for no new eligibility or benefits and cites Lipsky on oversight reaching the front line. The whole brief fits on a page and a half.
Reading the HLTH 3110 Week 10 rubric
Faculty usually reward legislative briefs that lead with a clear request and keep the reader's role in view. A brief that starts with history or a literature review loses its reader early. Credit increases when the problem is explained in plain language, costs are presented honestly and practical tools, such as hearing questions, are included. Faculty value a narrow request and a statement of what is not being asked. Brevity and readability matter more here than in earlier papers. Citations should be present but unobtrusive, so they support the request without slowing the reader. Instructors also check whether the request could realistically be carried out within the legislative calendar the brief describes.
Common HLTH 3110 Week 10 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Legislative briefs often read like class papers with a new title, opening with background and arriving at a request on the last page. Others make requests too broad for one legislator to act on. Some fill the page with jargon such as categorical eligibility and capitation. Write the request in one sentence and put it first. Ask what the legislator controls, such as budget hearings, and shape the request around it. Replace every technical term with plain words. Our writers can prepare a legislative brief for this course that leads with a clear request and gives a legislator tools to act on it. Ask someone outside the course to read only your first paragraph.
Get a HLTH 3110 Week 10 example written to your instructions
The desk writes the brief to your recipient and your ask, in the format the Week 10 prompt specifies, first sample free and returned inside 24-48h. This stays advocacy writing as an academic exercise: nothing is sent anywhere, no office is contacted, and the finished document is yours to work from when you write the version you turn in.
More HLTH 3110 papers and BS in Healthcare Administration samples
- HLTH 3110 Week 1: Policy Choice Discussion Post
- HLTH 3110 Week 2: Health Policy Issue Brief
- HLTH 3110 Week 3: Policy Stakeholder Analysis
- HLTH 3110 Week 4: Policy Evidence Review
- HLTH 3110 Week 5: Policy Cost Analysis
- HLTH 3110 Week 6: Policy Debate Discussion Post
- HLTH 3110 Week 7: Policy Position Paper
- HLTH 3110 Week 8: Comparative Health Policy Paper
- HLTH 3110 Week 9: Policy Implementation Analysis
- HLTH 3110 Week 11: Health Policy Course Reflection
- HLTH 3105 Week 10: Proposal Ownership Critique Post
- HLTH 3100 Week 10: Peer Rebuttal Post
- HLTH 2120 Week 10: System Change Implementation Memo
- HLTH 1015 Week 10: Career Action Plan
HLTH 3110 Week 10 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HLTH 3110 Week 10 sample paper?
The brief to the senator, including the five hearing questions, appears above in full for students, free.
What does the HLTH 3110 Week 10 brief ask the senator to do?
Ask the Medicaid director at the budget hearing how many postpartum enrollees lost coverage before 12 months and what is being done, and support a modest outreach line.
Why should the committee care?
Because the legislature already chose and funds 12 months of coverage, and early closures mean that spending is not fully reaching the people it was meant for.
Does the brief ask for new coverage?
No; it asks only for confirmation that the existing policy is working and for a small outreach effort.
Why include hearing questions?
So the senator can act immediately, without staff having to translate the brief into questions.