Thursday, March 03, 2005
Need another reason?
In pointing out the shoddy math promoting the Health Fee, I worked under the assumption that passing this fee means we won't be paying a co-pay. Even with this assumption, it seemed unlikely that we'd be breaking even on average. But that assumption isn't a good one. According to SHAC's poster, one of the dangers of not passing the fee is that the co-pay will not be covered by financial aid. This suggests, though, that one of the benefits of passing the fee will be coverage of the co-pay by financial aid. But that suggests that there will still be a co-pay. If you look closer, in fact, you'll see that no where in their propoganda do they really make the case that passing the fee will prevent the imposition of a co-pay. The list of "Where the money goes" doesn't include it.
This fee is looking worse and worse. Here's an interesting infosheet. Check out these benefits:
Value: The average student visits Tang 2.5 times per year and will "break even" with this pre-paid access fee.
Breaking even is not value. Although it's called a "pre-paid access fee," the measure does not claim to have that effect. It only claims to "support."
Improved Community Health: 25% of UC academic withdrawals are for medical reasons. Help keep our student community healthy and in school.
In the face of rising fees and limited resources, reducing academic withdrawals will only cause more problems for us. Besides, having the unhealthy students leave will improve the overall health of the community.
Equity: A portion of the Safeguard fee goes to financial aid for the neediest students on campus.
Not quite. It's more like since financial aid pays the fees for students on financial aid, it gets its money back. It's not like this causes more financial aid to be available.
Accountability: A student advisory group oversees fee use.
This advisory group, of course, is not accountable to the general student body. But hey, that's just one of those details, eh? Remember how well that multicultural center thing went?
And don't forget the blatant lie of this card: "Everyone benefits from Tang." Sugar is bad for you. And if you never go to the Tang center (like a lot of students), then no, you don't benefit from the Tang center.
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