German Business Political Climate, Economic Incentives and Foreign Investments

German Business Political Climate, Economic Incentives and Foreign Investments Introduction Germany has conventionally been the largest economy in Europe and the leading in global science and engineering development. Today, Germany stands as the fifth largest economy in the world with its gross domestic product (GDP) estimated to be almost a third of that euro of the Post bank AG. Munich, Germany: GRIN Verlag.

Prepare for a Test That Is 3 Months Away

Prepare for a Test That Is 3 Months Away If youre preparing to take a standardized test like the SAT or GRE (among others), you need months- not weeks or days- to get ready. Now, some people will try to prepare for a test like this by cramming at the last minute, but those people rarely achieve good test scores! In your case, youve given yourself three months, so you have plenty of time to study for whichever standardized test youre taking. This schedule should help you prepare for a test that is three months away. Month 1 Week 1 Make sure youve registered for your exam!Buy a test prep bookReview the test basics: whats on the test, length, price, test dates, registration facts, testing strategies, etc.Get a baseline score. Take one of the full-length practice tests inside the book to see what score youd get if you took the test today.Map out your time with a time management chart to see where test prep can fit in. Rearrange your schedule if necessary to accommodate test prep. Week 2 Review your test prep options if you think that studying on your own will not be ideal!  Choose and purchase a test prep option (tutoring, a different set of books, online courses, classes, etc.)If you are studying on your own, move this schedule up a week and start going into week 3s material. Week 3 Begin coursework with your weakest subject (Subject A) as demonstrated by the baseline score.Learn the components of Subject A fully: types of questions asked, amount of time needed, skills required, methods of solving types of questions, knowledge tested. Acquire the knowledge necessary for this section by searching on the Internet, going through old textbooks, reading articles, etc. Week 4 Answer Subject A practice questions, reviewing answers after each one. Determine where youre making mistakes and correct your methods. Keep learning content of this section. Month 2 Week 1 Take a practice test on Subject A to determine level of improvement from baseline score.Fine-tune A by going over questions missed to determine what level of knowledge youre missing. Reread information until you know it! Week 2 Move on to next weakest subject (Subject B). Learn the components of B fully: types of questions asked, amount of time needed, skills required, methods of solving types of questions, etc.Answer Subject B practice questions, reviewing answers after each one. Determine where youre making mistakes and correct your methods. Week 3 Take a practice test on B to determine level of improvement from baselineFine tune B by going over questions missed to determine what level of knowledge youre missing. Review that material. Week 4 Move on to strongest subject/s (Subject C). Learn the components of C fully (and D and E if you have more than three sections on the test) (types of questions asked, amount of time needed, skills required, methods of solving types of questions, etc.)Answer practice questions on Subject C (D and E). These are your strongest subjects, so youll need less time to focus on them. Month 3 Week 1 Take a practice test on C (D and E) to determine level of improvement from baselineFine tune C (D and E) by going over questions missed to determine what level of knowledge youre missing. Review that material. Week 2 Take a full-length practice test, simulating the testing environment as much as possible with time constraints, desk, limited breaks, etc.Grade your practice test and cross-check every wrong answer with the explanation for your wrong answer. Determine what youve missed and what you need to do to improve. Week 3 Take another full-length practice test, simulating the testing environment again. Again, go through every missed problem, looking for weaknesses. Week 4 Review questions you have missed and answer practice questions related only to those types of questions. Study apps can help you single out these specific types of questions.  Eat brain food.Get plenty of sleepReview test tips to make your test-taking more efficient.Plan some fun evenings to help you relaxThe day before the test,  read through testing strategies for the exam.Pack your testing supplies the night before: an approved calculator if youre allowed to have one, sharpened #2 pencils with a soft eraser, registration ticket, photo ID, watch, snacks or drinks for breaks. Get plenty of sleep the night before, making sure you dont change your routine from your normal routine.  Relax. You studied for your test and youre ready to go!

The king of saudi arabia, king abdullah Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The king of saudi arabia, king abdullah - Essay Example In actuality, Abdullahs reign has included a number of atrocious human rights infringements within Saudi Arabia (Bowen 46). Little is made out on the subject of King Abdullahs upbringing. He was born within Riyahd in the year 1924, the fifth child of Saudi Arabias naissance king, Abdul-aziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud referred to as Ibn Saud. The mother to Abdullah, Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim, was the eighth wife of Ibn Saud out of the twelve that he had. Abdullah has about fifty or sixty brothers and sisters. At the instant of Abdullahs delivery, his father was then Amir Abdul-aziz, as well as his monarchy, included just the northern, in addition to the eastern parts of Arabia. Amir Abdul-aziz triumphed over Sharif Hussein from Mecca in the year 1928 and pronounced himself emperor. The royal family unit was quite underprivileged until about the year 1940, while Saudi oil proceeds began to stream (Cordesman 34). Particulars of Abdullahs schooling are sparse; however, the authorized Saudi Information Directory affirms that he had a reserved religious schooling. According to the index, Abdullah enhanced his formal education with wide-ranging reading. He spent an extended stint residing with the wasteland Bedouin individuals so that he could learn traditional Arab standards, as well. In the month of August of the year1962, Prince Abdullah was taken on to front the Saudi Arabian nationwide Guard. The nationwide Guards duties take account of providing safety measures for the regal family unit, putting off coups, as well as protecting the Muslim Holy municipalities of Mecca, along with Medina. The power takes in a standing military of 125,000 soldiers, in addition to a tribal military, of 25,000 men. To date, King Abdullah oversees the National Guard that is made up of his fathers new clan descendents (Alshamsi 2). March of the year 1975 witnessed Abdullahs half-brother Khalid thrive to the throne in the lead of the

Discuss the differences between a leader and a manger essay

Discuss the differences between a leader and a manger - Essay Example â€Å"While a manager receives their authority based on their role, a leader's authority is innate in their approach† (Coach4Growth, 2010). Managers adopt approaches like autocratic, democratic etc in their management styles in order to manage their duties successfully. On the other hand, leaders bank on their personal qualities and charisma to attract the followers. For example, Mahatma Gandhi influenced the followers because of his personal qualities and charisma rather than giving any stubborn instructions. It is difficult for the managers to influence the subordinates as Mahatma Gandhi did. Managers always interact with the subordinates with the help of instructions. â€Å"The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust† (Leadership Vs. Management, 2000). The mission of leadership is all about making changes whereas the manager’s mission is all about bringing stability. The leaders will always look for long term goals whereas the managers are more fo cused on the short term goals (Leadership vs. Management, 2010). In other words, the leaders develop the ideas and strategies and the managers implement it. Managers do not want to think much about the long term aspects of a policy they are implementing. These policies are formulated by the leaders for achieving long term goals after careful evaluations. To conclude, both the management and leadership functions are extremely different.

Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Therapy Essay Example for Free

Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Therapy Essay Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Therapy University of New York in Prague Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Therapy Introduction There has been growing attention on attachment theory and its impacts on later behavioral outcomes. Several research have found an association between attachment insecurity and personality disorders due to inconsistent and unstable sense of self; and association between insecure attachment and physical illness due to susceptibility to stress. Although it has various implications on sense of integrated personality and psychological well-being, the only pathology that is officially related to attachment is Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) of infancy or early childhood which is counted as very rare disorder in Diagnostic Statistical Manuel. There has been a wide range of debates on RAD with regard to its difficulties in diagnosing, validity of its subtypes, its susceptibility of being confused with other disorders, its relation with attachment theory and its treatment methods. In my opinion, RAD has not given much attention and has not been studied much due to these complications. In this paper, my attempt is to discuss these issues about RAD and its treatment models by providing with some empirical findings. Reactive Attachment Disorder can historically be traced on the studies with institutionalized children who were deprived from secure attachment and who had multiple caregivers. In very young institutionalized children who experienced social deprivation, Tizard and Rees (1975) identified two types of disorders. The first one was socially indiscriminate/ disinhibited type, in which children displayed nonselective preferences of using adults as seeking comfort and tendency to go with the strangers who offered them comfort. In the second type, children were relatively socially withdrawn/ inhibited, who showed limited social responsiveness, little positive affect and failure to seek comfort when needed. Later, these behavioral patterns with the requirement of signs result from pathogenic care were described as reactive attachment disorder. Zeanah Gleason, 2010) Attachment Theory suggests that infants are evolutionarily primed to form close, enduring, dependent bond on a primary caregiver. The fulfillment of their physiological needs require close physical contact (Carlson, Sampson Sroufe, 2003). In Diagnostic Statistical Manuel, the only pathology that is officially related to attachment is Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) of infancy or early childhood. The diagnostic criteria for RAD include: disturbed and developmentally inappropriate social relatedness prior to age five, pathogenic care such as persistent disregard of the childs basic emotional and physical needs and repeated changes of primary caregiver that prevents development of stable attachment, and these disturbances are not better accounted for pervasive developmental disorders or developmental delay (DSM-IV-TR, 2007). Two types of RAD behaviors have been classified: Inhibited type refers to emotionally withdrawn children who show limited social responsiveness, ambivalent or contradictory responses, little positive affect and a failure to seek comfort when they feel distressed. These behavior patterns are believed to be related with experiences with caregivers who do not provide emotional support and comfort when needed. Secondly, disinhibited type refers to children who have diffuse attachment and who show accessive and inappropriate familiarity with strangers. These behaviors are resulting from experiences with caregivers who are not very responsive but can provide some affection. (Haugaard and Hazan, 2004) Some studies demonstrated that children with RAD might display inhibited behavioral patterns, disinhibited behavioral patterns and both inhibited and disinhibited behavioral patterns (Smyke, Dumitrescu ; Zeanah, 2002). However there is a disagreement in subclassification of RAD. Some other studies based on the follow-up studies of children placed in adoptive homes showed that inhibited types were nonexistent whereas disinhibited types were much higher (Chisholm, 1998). These findings have raised the question that inhibited and disinhibited types might have different clinical entities. Mary Margaret Gleason and her collegues (2011) examined inconsistent findings and validity of the two types of RAD. The construct validity of two types of RAD was examined by comparing the caregiving quality, a putative risk factor for each type of RAD, and attachment security. In existing literature, attachment security is found as inconsistently linked to indiscriminately social/disinhibited RAD and more consistently linked with emotionally withdrawn/inhibited RAD. They predicted that each type of RAD would show stability over time. The results supported the validity of these two types. Signs of inhibited RAD were distinct from the disinhibited type; and they were associated with poor caregiving quality (Gleason, Fox, Drury, Smyke, Egger, Nelson, Gregas ; Zeanah, 2011). There has been an implicit assumption that RAD is caused by attachment deficit; however, this assumption may have blocked the research. There are some difficulties in diagnosing RAD due to complications of assessing attachment. The assessment may be derived from the observations of relationship between child and caregiver. It also may focus on the behavioral outcomes of children (Lyons T. Hardy, 2007). Minnis et. al. (2006) proposed that RAD is construed in intersubjectivity. RAD has raised various questions since there is not a single explanation of the behaviors of children that are afflicted of the disorder. In the DSM-IV classification, diagnostic requirement of grossly pathogenic care does not explain the aspects of social, emotional and physical maltreatment. Children who experienced grossly pathogenic care may display aggressiveness, indiscriminate friendliness, social withdrawal and poor emotional regulation. However, these behaviors can also be observed in some other disorders such as Conduct disorder, ADHD and autism. Therefore, presuming attachment as a core etiology may be misleading. They offer, instead, intersubjectivity- the infants brain development is supported by the responses of parents or caregivers. Since this process is always active, an infant will always be affected by other persons actions and the other persons rejection will have a negative impact on the infant. Although there are some overlaps between intersubjectivity and attachment, intersubjectivity processes are active in all interaction including low affect. Children who have never experienced intersubjectivity will not have the capacity of removing early false relationship and they may be condemned to seek it throughout their life (Minnis,Marwick, Arthur McLaughlin, 2006). Through the active process of intersubjectivity, caregivers neglect in the early ages will have a negative effect on the infant. Similar to this claim, Corbin (2007) states that pathological caregiving characteristic of RAD does its harm through the ruptures and developmental difficulties in the early ages (Minnis et al. , 2006). Liggan and Kay (1999) found that early pre-symbolic memory is an enduring implicit memory that depends on â€Å"whose existence is inferred from observable influence on emotional behaviors related to early attachment experiences†. Implicit memory is an unconscious memory that has the potential to influence the storage of long-term memory. These findings have implication on RAD since early experiences would form prototypes, schemes that affect interpretation of subsequent experiences. Therefore the information stored is not available in conscious reflection and thought. This may explain the insufficient researches on the effectiveness of some treatment strategies with children with RAD. Nevertheless, some studies showed that attachment therapy and clinical intervention have led to significant improvement on children with RAD. Even though there are some different perspectives on etiology of RAD and presentation of the symptoms, it is largely influenced by early emotional and social deficiencies. Treatment of RAD focuses on enhancing current attachment relationship, creating new attachment relationships and reducing problematic symptoms. Barth et al. (2005) examined the rationale of the development of attachment-based therapies in the treatment of RAD. The findings supported that early anxious attachment is not a direct cause of psychopathology but it is an initiator of pathways associated with later pathology (Sroufe et al. , 1999). Some therapists point out that early frustration of being rejected and helplessness lead pessimistic view of the world and sociopaths such as serial killers may have attachment disorders (Thomas 1997). Although some studies found that most of the adopted children do not have insecure attachment (Singer et al. 1985; Juffer;Rosenboom, 1997), Barth et. al. argue that these studies are characteristically short-term and mostly based on children in non-adoptive families. RAD is considered as very uncommon disorder by American Psychiatric Association 2000,p. 129), however, it is thought that there may be one million children, half of all adopted children, diagnosed with RAD in USA. (Werner-Wilson; Davenport, 2003). Millward et al. (2006) examined 100 children in foster care in Scotland. They predicted that there would be higher symptom scores for RAD in children in care compared with general population controls and that high symptom scores for RAD would be associated with other psychiatric disorders. Parents and carers took RAD Scale. As they predicted, children living in care had higher rates of mental health problems including RAD. They were more likely to have anxiety, depression, conduct disorder and hyperactivity (Millward, Kennedy, Towlson ; Minnis, 2006). Attachment based therapies regard the child as a focus of clinical intervention. In this perspective, the purpose of the treatment of RAD is helping the children to release anger resulting from their early negative experiences and teaching the child that new parents can be trusted as caregivers. Wimmer et al. (2009) investigated the effectiveness of attachment therapy in treating adopted children diagnosed with RAD. Adopted parents often face with the lack of affection of their adopted children. They feel that they are unable to contact with the child to establish reciprocal emotional relationship. Attachment therapy aims to provide some improvement in their relationship with their child. Based on the presumption that adopted children may have insecure attachment due to early experiences of deprivation, attachment theory has been developed to improve childs trust in the adoptive parents. Moreover development in childs social and emotional functioning and teaching effective parenting techniques are promises of attachment therapy (Wimmer, Vonk ; Bordnick, 2009). In order to investigate the effectiveness of attachment therapy, they gathered data from 24 children who were adopted and who had been treated with attachment therapy for three years.

The guidelines of the law :: essays papers

The guidelines of the law There are many different guidelines of this law that each state and school systems have to follow. The first of many is to hold states, school systems, and individual schools accountable for their test scores. â€Å"It sets a new standard for measuring achievement and has real consequences for schools that fail to make progress over time† (Heath, 2002-2004, para. 2). Each state will have to implement school testing and report their finding back to the government. The government will then send out the results from the tests. The government is very lenient on how the states set up their plans for improving their schools. School systems are allowed to build off their programs already in use. The government allows the use of systems that are already in place but it also states to send them their plans for improvement. If school systems fail to send in a report and a plan for change to the Department of Education, the government can take away their Title 1 funding (Hombo, 2003). The purpose of holding schools accountable for test scores is to show the teacher, parents, and other staff members what the school needs to work on improving. This will help to limit teachers passing children who are not up to the proper grade level because the person feels bad for the child because of his or hers living situation, (Sclafani, 2002-2003). The tests will be given to every student from grade four through grade eight. The National Assessment of Education Progress administers the test every two years. â€Å"NAEP has a new role: to act as a serious discussion tool in evaluating results of state assessments, and in providing a common base for comparison between states† (Hombo, 2003, p.4). This goes back to states being held accountable for their students test scores. States that do not receive the proper federal funding do not have to develop or implement the test (Boehner, 2001-2002). The No Child Left Behind legislation focuses on improving students reading levels, especially in the elementary years. â€Å"Only 32% of fourth graders are proficient readers who read at a fourth grade level,†(Heath, 2002-2004, para. 3). If school systems receive the money, they can then in turn apply for the Reading First Grants. These grants are used to pay for classroom reading instructions. They have to be used with programs that have been researched and are proven to work.

Mental Health issues in Adults Essay

Mental health is defined in Healthy People 2020 as encompassing the ability to engage in productive activities and fulfilling relationships with other people, to adapt to change and to cope with adversity (USDHHS, 2010). In the United States nearly 57.7 Million adults (18 years and above) suffer from a mental health disorder in a given year and 6% of the population suffers from a serious mental illness (NIMH, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to look into the perspective of how best one can advocate for mental health disorder as a population health issue through various strategies including policy change. Population Health Issue and Population Affected Mental health disorders have no boundaries and affect all people without regard to gender, race or age. They are the leading cause of disability in North America (WHO, 2008b). Despite the staggering number of people with mental health disorders, only 25% obtain help in any part of the health care system, while the majority receives no specialty mental health care. It is unrealistic to have a goal of â€Å"decreasing the prevalence of mental illness† because mental illness by its nature is a complex bio psychosocial disorder and any stressful event in life may be the cause of mental health problem and everyone is susceptible to it. According to Byers et al. the number of people age 55 and above suffering from mood or anxiety disorders has been increasing for the last two decades and it has a trend of doubling itself every five years. This alarming trend will soon become a public health crisis as a large number of â€Å"baby boomer† generation ages. The increasing number of returning veterans is also another dimension to this crisis. A study conducted by RAND Corporation found that nearly twenty percent of servicemen and women returning from recent wars have some form of mental health condition (RAND, 2008). The estimated societal costs for the veterans based on prevalence and two years of treatment is estimated between $4.0 to 6.2 million. Advocacy Programs Researched in This Area The impact of mental illness on overall health and productivity in the US is often under recognized. There are many reasons for this under recognition; mainly the misunderstanding of the illness itself, lack of resources, stigma, or lack of social support can be cited. The World Health Organization (WHO) in recognition of the need for adequate resources launched a mental health initiative called Mental Health Global Action Program (mhGAP) to raise awareness and address a variety unmet needs. Other than WHO, consumer advocacy groups such as the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) deserve the credit for the advances made in the treatment of mental illness. The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Act otherwise known as the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was signed into law in 2008. The main goal of this Act is to eliminate unequal health treatment practice that has kept individuals from seeking mental health care for a long time. The way this law works it that it does not force group health plans to cover mental health benefits, however when plans cover mental health, it requires that they provide full and equal benefit in a way that is no more restrictive than all other medical and surgical procedures covered by the plan. Effective Attributes of the Programs MHPAEA has had quite an impact on the population since it went in effect in 2010. For starter, the statute does not require for employers to buy mental health benefits and employers with less than 50 employees are exempt of this statute. The second important point is that MHPAEA stipulates that any State law that provides greater protections than MHPAEA may continue to remain in effect. The last stipulation is great because it stops the Federal law (MHPAEA) from overriding a State law assuming that it protects its constituents better. Unfortunately some employers have taken MHPAEA as an excuse to drop mental health benefits in its entirety. The Screen Writers Guild was the first employer to announce its decision to drop mental health coverage for its 12000 employees. Some employers followed suit citing rising cost of insurance and burden on employers. NAMI argues cutting mental health benefits has higher cost to employers. According to NAMI most mental illnesses are highly treatable. For example, the most common mental illness in the United States is depression. The prevalence of depression is estimated to be 1 in 10 individuals of which 75% do not get the diagnosis nor the treatment. 72% are estimated to be in the workforce. NAMI estimates the indirect loss to employers amounts to 79 billion per year out of which 63 billion reflect loss of productivity due to mental illness. Mental illness causes more days of work loss and work impairement than chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, back pain and heart disease (NAMI, 2012). NAMI also claims that within two weeks of treatment 70 to 90% of individuals with depressions see a significant reduction of symptoms with and improved quality of life therefore it would be wise for employers to provide employees mental health coverage than incur costs for absenteeism. Health Advocacy Plan and Objectives for the Policy Implemented The very first step of making a health advocacy plan is to review and understand the existing health plans and be able to establish how they impact on the patients, health care providers and other stakeholders like insurers and the leaders (Jonas & Kovner, 2011). The next step is to establish the pros and cons of having such health plans (Jonas & Kovner, 2011). This would then influence a particular advocacy plan and the objectives of the policy. The objectives should take into account the prime position played by politicians in policy change (Alberta Heath Services, 2009). To effectively advocate for mental health, one needs to understand what is actually available. The facts are as follows: The US Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 47 Million of Americans are uninsured and out of this number 25% of them suffer from mental health or substance abuse disorder or a combination of the two. 1/3 of insured individuals have no coverage of both including outpatient therapy visits and inpatient crisis intervention. Then there is MHPAEA that exempts small groups therefore individuals insured under small group market may not have mental health coverage (unless the employer chose to provide one). The HHS estimates that about 95 percent of those with small group market coverage have substance abuse and mental health benefits (HHS, 2012). Communication to Various Stakeholders Communication in the public health sector can be done in several forms including through the mass media, seminars, schools, and churches and depending on the situation, place and target group, several methods can be used including posters, speeches, skits and literature among others. As a policy oriented approach, it divides the target audience into primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary target addresses the organizations, groups and people with the power to effect change. The secondary target is represented by those who can be mobilized to participate in the implementation. The tertiary target is the general public (Alberta Heath Services, 2009). In effect, therefore, mass media as means of advocacy help the organizations and the general public to make better health choices. The approach of communication NAMI took is to involve all three targets. The tertiary target i.e. the general public has also been the focus of NAMI especially because of the link between mental illness and substance abuse. Efforts to raise awareness are underway especially in the DC metro area where frequent walks organized by NAMI are happening. The aim of NAMI walks is to raise awareness of mental health and well-being in communities and to improve the general understanding of the illness, and reduce the misunderstandings and stigma associated with it. NAMI educates and trains practitioners and patients of the different pathways to recovery. Health practitioners, especially nurses get a larger opportunity to educate about the disease in their area of practice and also be the voices for the patients who do not have a voice. Data and Evidence to Substantiate Proposed Need The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is commonly referred to as the ObamaCare, has become regarded as a historical law ever since it was signed into the law in March 23rd, 2010 by President Obama (American Public Health Association, 2013). ACA built on the structures of MHPAEA to expand coverage of mental health and substance use disorder for more than 62 million Americans in the following three ways: 1.Essential Health Benefits Mental health and substance use disorders will be part of all individual and small group market â€Å"non-grandfathered† insurance plans (essential health benefits) effective January 1st 2014. â€Å"non-grandfathered† means plans that were not in existence before ACA was signed into law. This statute ensures that at least 5.1 million individuals (3.9 million currently covered in the individual market and 1.2 covered in small group plans) and will gain either mental health or substance use disorder coverage or both. 2.Parity in the Individual and Small Group Markets Under the ACA and the MHPAEA 7.1 million Americans currently covered in the individual market who currently have some mental health and substance use disorder benefits will have access to coverage of Essential Health Benefits comparable to their general and surgical medical coverage. 3.Increasing Access to Quality Health Care Finally, the ACA will expand essential health benefits insurance coverage to an estimated 27 million uninsured Americans through access to insurance market places and CMS. The essential Health Benefits packages includes mental health services In total, the Affordable Care Act will expand federal parity protection to at least 62 million Americans. Application of Attributes of Effective Advocacy Programs to Proposed Campaign Among many other health-care policies that have proved to be workable, Obamacare turned out to have adequate advantages that can be borrowed and applied in this campaign. Obamacare health policy emphasizes on quality health-care and not quantity. For instance, doctors and other health-care professionals are paid according to the quality of health service they provide (Obama Care Facts, 2013). Obamacare also highlights the importance of non-discrimination in the provision of health services across the entire population, thus ensuring uniformity in its application. One yet another vital attribute that is also of importance is the reduction of costs for preventive health-care options. This ensures that options explored by the general public are not exploitative and overburdening to them (Obama Care Facts, 2013). Obamacare has also been to a greater degree people-driven, as the citizenry have been effective in pushing their political leaders to support the health plan (Obama Care Facts, 2013). It does not take rocket science to know that mental health and substance abuse disorder patients would benefit tremendously from such a program. Impact of Existing Laws or Regulations The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act legislation contained several health reforms provisions that were already being rooted for by a number of health stakeholders including American Public Health Association (APHA) and other population health experts (APHA, 2013). Following the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, there has been a shift from the focus on treatment of the sick to the focus on promoting people’s health (APHA, 2013). The ACA and HP2020 have a common goal which is to create social and physical environments that promote health and wellness in all populations. The ACA will be effective in January 2014, so far the program looks very promising and the statute have been found to have very little impact on the employer-based insurance with a projected slight increase (2.7% only), especially with regard to the high end employers. However, there appears to be a decrease for the low end employers (Blumberg et al., 2012) contrary to what the critics of ACA are speculating. Analysis of Methods Used to Influence Policy Makers According to Milstead (2013), for nurses to succeed in advocating for the enactment of new and better policies, it is imperative that they strike a working relationship with the government agencies, officers as well as with the elected officials. This way the nurses have the chance to be recognized as having what it takes to effect policies concerning population health issues, and this will thus be included in making decisions concerning population health matters (Milstead, 2013). Establishing such a cordial relationship would be instrumental in helping both parties, namely the nurses and the policy makers to be able to review existing health policies and enact better campaigns (Milstead, 2013). Other than striking a rapport with the political leaders, the nurses should also strive to enhance their understanding of the policy-making process through the nursing internships that were already put in place by the nursing organizations (Milstead, 2013). Anticipated Obstacles and Strategies According to the online article by Alberta Health Services (2009), several challenges abound when it comes to advocating for population health. The leading and most obvious problem lies in the main aim of advocacy, which is to effect legislations that would then lead to changes in policies. This is the case since the policy change is highly a political issue whose process results in public tensions (Alberta Health Services, 2009). Almost all legislative changes and implementations are funded by the public resources, and, therefore, any suggested changes are often contested (Alberta Health Services, 2009). Further still, these changes often have economic consequences as well. As a result, more often than not population health advocates together with the like-minded politicians and members of the public of good will find themselves at the receiving end on the part of various interest groups who wish to maintain the status quo (Alberta Health Services, 2009). Obamacare, which seeks to provide preventive services also covered in insurance plans and to ascertain that people with insurance covers are not dropped while sick, has for instance, faced several obstacles mainly from the stakeholders in the insurance industry (Obama Care Facts, 2013). Anybody who wishes to conduct a successful advocacy for mental health and substance abuse disorders must be prepared to deal with all these obstacles, especially given that most insurance companies would be less willing to cover against mental health. View as multi-pages