Health policies are plans to determine or influence decisions or actions that will help achieve specific health goals. Most of these policies are actions taken by the government to improve the American healthcare system. The purpose of this essay is to describe the process by which an issue ultimately becomes a policy and to connect it to the policy process of the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA). This essay will include the formulation phase, the legislative phase and the implementation phase of a comprehensive policy process. Health policy Health policy aims at the organisation, financing and provision of health services. The reason for targeting these areas is the licensing of healthcare providers and facilities, to ensure the protection of patients' private health information and quality care measures, errors, negligence and efforts to control the costs of health care. (Acuff, 2010). There are several steps to follow when creating a policy (see figure 1). The following figure shows the critical stages of the political process. First, the problem must be identified, once the problem is identified potential policy solutions must be formulated, then the policy is adopted and then implemented. After the policy is adopted, an evaluation of the policy must take place (This Nation, 2013). Figure 1. Critical phases in the political process Source: The Public Policy Process, This Nation. Problem Identification There are many problems, but for a To put it on the public policy agenda, it must be a salient issue, meaning that it must be an issue that stands out and is addressed by a broad interest group (Boundless, 2013). An example of this is the ACA, which starting in 2014 will provide health coverage for all, reduce health care costs and improve the quality of health. The large interest group in this situation are millions of Americans. Formulation PhaseFormulation is the second phase after problem identification and agenda setting. This phase involves proposing solutions to the problem. Policy makers propose different lines of action and solutions to address the problem. Then find an effective solution that solves most of the problems (Boundless, 2013). The purpose of implementing the ACA is because many people are uninsured for various reasons, some of which are financial hardship, pre-existing conditions, and employment status. The most effective solution to these problems was to formulate