La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § I-11301

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section I-11301 - Introduction

A. A policy is a guiding principle or course of action adopted and pursued by a society through its government as well as by various societal groups such as voluntary associations and professional organizations. Social policy, as a type of policy, addresses three areas which are considered its common domain:

1. a society's overall quality of life;

2. the conditions of life directly experienced by individuals and groups such as the family; and

3. the quality of the relationships among various societal groups and individuals.

B. Health policy must be considered a major sub-area of social policy. The three areas previously identified as the domain of social policy are inseparable from health concerns. Can a society's overall quality of life be ascertained without considering mortality and morbidity rates? Similarly, can the conditions of life directly experienced by individuals not be affected by the availability, accessibility and quality of health care? It therefore becomes inevitably necessary for health related matters to be addressed in social policy.

C. Since health policy is defined as a sub-area of social policy it also becomes subject to all of the difficulties inherent in analyzing social policy. A major contributing factor to difficulties encountered in the analysis of social policy is the lack of definitional consensus on what social policy actually is. The literature on social policy reflects this definitional confusion by using the term in different ways. Sometimes social policy refers to abstract principles, a philosophical stance that should guide decision-makers seeking solutions to social problems. Sometimes, it is perceived as a set of decisions telling us what is to be done about a particular social problem. This approach overlooks the "channeling functions" of social policy. Social policies shape our perceptions of what constitutes a social problem by labeling behavior, situations, or conditions problematic, therefore legitimizing and focusing our concern on the particular problem as well as legitimizing the allocation of resources to solve or contain the problem.

D. A third approach considers social policy to be an underlying process societal organizations use to maintain equilibrium and improve conditions for its members.

E. Finally, social policy is defined as a framework for action. This assumes the existence of clarity linked to the expectation that changes in values, structures, and conditions will ensue in the societal units affected by the policy. This last approach fuses the definition of policy as both process and product.

F. Given the lack of definitional consensus, perhaps the most useful approach, and the one adopted for the remainder of this analysis, begins by conceptualizing the "Social Policy" pursued by any society, as an interacting and interdependent system of policies, and by further conceptualizing those policies which make up the system, when they are public policies, as being expressed through legislative act.

G. Two considerations which add to the difficulties of social policy analysis bear on the evaluation of policy as conceptualized in the previous paragraph. First, each area of policy having developed over time has a history. Consequently policy is characteristically stratiform and, of necessity, in flux, since policy derives from societal structures which are themselves constantly in transition.

H. A second consideration, explained in part by the first, is the potential for inconsistency and conflict in the body of social policy. There may be clear interrelationships between policies but the stratiform character of policy development, compounded by conflicts of interest between societal groups, can create inconsistencies that may become quite problematic.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § I-11301

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Resources, Office of Management and Finance, LR 13:246 (April 1987).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with P.L. 93-641 as amended by P.L. 96-79, and R.S. 36:256(b).