LETTER: No upside to insurance mandate

To the editor,

I am writing in response to the proposed mandatory health insurance article in Wednesday’s Statesman. As a student with some medical conditions I stand to gain more from mandatory health insurance than most. However, I don’t believe that it should be forced upon the student body. This completely ignores the rights of many to protect the rights of the few.

Throughout the entire article Mr. Davis seems ignorant or out of touch with students’ responsibility level or financial position. He stated that we have the resources for books and pizza. Yes, we do buy books. We are in college. Many of the students pay $100 or more per book. Students do eat a lot of pizza, but many times it is for two or three people making the cost closer to $1 to $2 each.

A concern was raised that students would have to leave school to pay medical bills. This may or may not be true, but there are even more students who leave school to make money to go to school. Raising tuition or student fees to cover insurance isn’t going to attract or retain anyone. It will only drive more people away.

While I agree that we do take more risks than the older generation, many of us do think of the consequences of our actions. Students are typically some of the healthiest people in the country. If insurance is forced on us perhaps the student should pass a law stating that all full time employees of the university must own and use a treadmill. This debate comes down to choices. Don’t take away ours.

Monty Borrowman