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.
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