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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2000)
Insurance continued from page 1 Students who already have some form of health insurance would not have to pay for the basic health plan. If the proposal goes into effect, students who are uninsured would have to purchase the insurance plan through their university. Stu dents would still have the option of upgrading to a major medical in surance plan, which would in crease the amount of coverage of fered. Preliminary estimates have placed the cost of the basic plan at $14-17 per term. “We’re not looking at a heavy cost to students,” said Elizabeth Dicken son, a risk manager for the Oregon University System and a member of the Task Force on Student Health In surance, which formed the propos al. “You could think of it as four lattes a term or something. ” While most University students have some form of health insurance, according to the 1998 Health Center Survey, roughly 13 percent of the student population is not insured. “The cost of health care is rising rapidly, and there are a number of students on campus who are unin sured or can’t afford health care,” said Dan Williams, vice president for administration and task force member. “Not having health in surance is just a risk that we don’t want anyone to have to take. ” And that is the impetus behind the proposal, Dickinson said — when universities make health in surance plans voluntary, many stu dents opt not to purchase them. That results in what she terms “ad verse selection,” where only people who plan to use the health insur ance buy it. But most insurers count on some people in the insurance pool rarely using their insurance. And when only a handful of stu dents purchase a plan, and they all use it to cover expensive medical bills, insurance companies often raise premiums to cover the costs. While some students who never go to the doctor might object to hav ing to pay for basic coverage, it’s a worthwhile investment, said sen ior biology and biochemistry major and task force member Greg Byrd. “You never know if you’re going to need it or not,” he said. “You could be perfectly healthy now, but you could be walking down the street and slip on the curb and break your ankle.” Task force members aren’t sure when a mandatory plan could go into effect, if it were approved. Es timates varied from fall term 2001 to five years from now. According to University Health Center Director Dr. Gerald Fleis chli, the differences in the time lines are partly because a lot of complicated issues with the plan still need to be discussed. If the board does approve the proposal, the task force woul work out the specifics of a university system-wide health insurance plan. But health officials and task force members said they still have to determine if such a plan is even financially feasible for all the uni versities, or should be specific to each school. Election continued from page 1 ecutive to appoint members to fill the senate. “It is absolutely crucial that we have people running for these po sitions,” ASUO Elections Coordi nator Ken Best said. ASUO President Wylie Chen blamed the low candidate turnout on a combination of an earlier elec tion date and the recent Programs Fi nance Committee budget hearings. Chen said many students might have been preoccupied worrying about the fate of their organization’s budget hearing and not thinking about preparing a campaign. “We usually get a lot of candi dates from the programs here on campus,” Chen said. “A lot of the people were not prepared to run. ” Last year’s Ballot Measure 4 changed elections dates from May 1 to April 1. Bennett Lacy, publicity coordi nator for the elections board, said he felt general student apathy caused so many seats to run un contested. “I don’t think students on cam pus realize where their incidental fees go,” Lacy said. Lacy estimates the incoming Student Senate will be responsi ble for allocating almost $7 mil lion in incidental fee money across campus. He also said that if they didn’t extend the deadline, students would not be properly represented by the election. He said he thinks a localized group, should they run uncontested, will not accurately represent the greater University as a whole. Best said that “We would urge any and all who care about what happens to their incidental fees on campus to apply,” Best said. Presidential and vice presiden tial candidates C.J. Gabbe and Pe ter Larson, however, said they are upset by the delay. "We have been ready for months,” Gabbe said. “We are ready to go. We feel we are being penalized for being on time. ” He also said he is concerned the extended deadline may hurt stu dent voter turnout because the candidates may not have enough time for their campaigns. But ASUO presidential candi date Jay Breslow said he thinks moving the date is a good idea. “It will give people who have a chance to run [a chance] to make the decision,” he said. Edward Yuen contributed to this article. Free Checking ’K- Student; f MasterCard® Online Banking Instant Cash & Check"card when you sign up for the Student Combo Package at your local branch. IliM Hill NOftWEST mm hi , ’Free T-shirt offer ends 3/31/00. 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