2008 Woodie Awards
University senate OKs requiring health insurance
Jad Sleiman
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: News
Nearly two years after Health Center Director Sacared Bodison conceived the idea of implementing mandatory health insurance at the university, a proposal requiring all undergraduates to have an insurance policy has landed on university President Dan Mote's desk.
The policy, which will not affect any current students, could go into effect as early as fall 2009 and would require new undergraduate students to provide proof of health insurance or buy an $800 university policy. The proposal also includes an increase in financial aid in order to help poor students pay for the insurance policies.
The University Senate, the university's most powerful policymaking body, approved the initiative in a decisive vote yesterday, sending the proposal to Mote, who has already voiced approval for the idea.
Because senate proposals can't include specifics about implementation - that's left to Mote's cabinet - the policy was somewhat vague.
"This is a philosophical kind of recommendation to the administration," Montgomery said.
Making the policy mandatory for uninsured students would drive down the cost of the policy for an individual from about $1,300 to near $800 because the students would be buying insurance together in bulk.
The Student Government Association unanimously pledged support for the policy Wednesday night, but SGA President Andrew Friedson warned the organization would withdraw support for the measure if administrators could not find a way to fund it.
Even with the SGA's support, the idea of mandatory health insurance wasn't completely free of skeptics within the university faculty.
Associate professor Howard Leathers said he didn't want the mandatory health insurance policy passed because it lacked "canvassed support."
Leathers acknowledged the merits of a mandatory health insurance policy on the state or national level "because of the fact that the uninsured impose costs on the rest of society," but said he didn't see uninsured students as imposing a similar burden on the university's health care system.
The policy, which will not affect any current students, could go into effect as early as fall 2009 and would require new undergraduate students to provide proof of health insurance or buy an $800 university policy. The proposal also includes an increase in financial aid in order to help poor students pay for the insurance policies.
The University Senate, the university's most powerful policymaking body, approved the initiative in a decisive vote yesterday, sending the proposal to Mote, who has already voiced approval for the idea.
Because senate proposals can't include specifics about implementation - that's left to Mote's cabinet - the policy was somewhat vague.
"This is a philosophical kind of recommendation to the administration," Montgomery said.
Making the policy mandatory for uninsured students would drive down the cost of the policy for an individual from about $1,300 to near $800 because the students would be buying insurance together in bulk.
The Student Government Association unanimously pledged support for the policy Wednesday night, but SGA President Andrew Friedson warned the organization would withdraw support for the measure if administrators could not find a way to fund it.
Even with the SGA's support, the idea of mandatory health insurance wasn't completely free of skeptics within the university faculty.
Associate professor Howard Leathers said he didn't want the mandatory health insurance policy passed because it lacked "canvassed support."
Leathers acknowledged the merits of a mandatory health insurance policy on the state or national level "because of the fact that the uninsured impose costs on the rest of society," but said he didn't see uninsured students as imposing a similar burden on the university's health care system.
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