The Analysis: Boise State needs a new health care package

RYAN JOHNSON/THE ARBITER

As the health care debate rages on throughout the country, many troubling questions have come to life about what role government should play when the protection of our health is at stake. Consistency seems to elude this emotionally charged debate. We count on the protection of the police department to keep us safe from criminals. We count on our military and intelligence agencies to protect us from foreign threats and our fire departments to save us from other catastrophes.

But it when it comes down to things like the tape worm (which buries itself inside the body, living off its unassuming host, growing until it either kills itself or the host) and a vast assortment of other wicked little bugs, people seem apprehensive about receiving help from their government. Granted, treating cancer is far more complicated than putting out a fire but the basic concept remains the same. Perhaps by taking a closer look at our own mandatory health plan, we can bring a little clarity to this murky issue.

All full-time students at Boise State are automatically enrolled in the Student Health Insurance Plan, or SHIP. Boise State is not alone in this venture. Many colleges and universities around the country have similar policies.

“A study performed in California showed that 25 percent of college drop-outs left school due to medical reasons and the financial burdens that follow,” Ferdinand Schlapper, executive director of Health, Wellness and Counseling Services said.

To address the problem, colleges started requiring students to carry health insurance. SHIP has its advantages. It allows for no out-of-pocket expense when receiving primary care, routine wellness exams, and laboratory tests at University Health Services located at 2103 University Drive and Chrisway Drive.

However, SHIP isn’t a popular program on campus. Out of the 14,007 students automatically enrolled in SHIP for the fall semester of 2008, 9,762 (69 percent) decided to opt out of the program after providing proof of comparable health insurance. That percentage is up from the fall semester of 2006 when 8,607 out of 13,307 (64 percent) of students provided their own health insurance.

Cost might have something to do with the decrease in SHIP enrollment. For the 2006-2007 academic year, the cost of insurance was $496 per semester as compared to $697 per semester for 2008-2009, a 40 percent increase.

Boise State has a plan to combat the rising cost. Schlapper is currently working on a plan with Idaho State University and Lewis- Clark State College to umbrella all three schools under the same insurance plan. The theory is that if more students are enrolled, the cost will be divided among more people, making the program more affordable to the individual.

It’s capitalism at the peak of its efficiency. On a national scale, a non-profit, government sponsored public option would operate on the same concept: keep costs low by spreading them among many people and keep the powers honest by allowing competition between the government and private sector.

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Those great words written 222 years ago laid out the blueprint for our government. We have the courts to establish justice, police and fire departments to ensure domestic tranquility and military to provide for the common defense; Why not a health care system to promote the general welfare?

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