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8A - Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


b' tells students to foot
bill in case funds get cut

From Page lA
mation is available.
Margaret Rodriguez, the Uni-
versity's senior associate direc-
tor of financial aid, said there's an
estimated 5,000 students at the
University slated to receive the
scholarship this academic year.
In response to concerns from
students and parents regarding the
potential end of the scholarship,
the office of Financial Aid sent out
e-mails on August 13 to students
awaiting word on whether the
funding will be cut.
Students who receive need-
based financial aid in addition to
the Michigan Promise Scholarship
were told to pay the balances on
their student accounts minus the
grant amount they would receive
through the scholarship. If the
funds do not come through, the
HEALTH CARE
From Page 1A
"To take on cost-containment,
[universal] access and make the
promise of cost neutrality to the
federal budget, in terms of no new
deficit creations, was a Herculean
task," Fendrick said, referencing
a pledge by the president to make
his health care reform plans deficit
neutral over the next 10 years.
Fendrick is also the co-director
ofthe University's Center forValue-
Based Insurance Design. He said
the Value-Based Insurance Design
model is the type of incremental
reform that he would recommend
to provide forlong-term cost reduc-
tion and encourage general health.
"The basic premise of Value-
Based Insurance Design is to set up
the situation where, instead of all
doctor visits, diagnostic tests and
drugs costing patients the same,
we actually put strong financial
and non-financial barriers in place
for people to do the things that we
really want them to do," he said.
Value-Based Insurance Design
has gained recognition as the model
for a recent legislative proposal in
the U.S. Senate designed to benefit
Medicare recipients. The biparti-
san proposal intends to lower out-

e-mail said, the students would
be considered for "additional aid,"
though these supplemental awards
are not guaranteed.
The e-mail stated that stu-
dents who do not receive need-
based financial aid should "make
arrangements to cover the amount
of your Michigan Promise Scholar-
ship with other resources," and if
the scholarship ultimately comes
through, the scholarship sum will
then be credited to the student's
account.
"We will honor our commitment
to students who have need but we
are not responsible for all state pro-
grams," Fowler said. "Any scholar-
ship is important to students to pay
for their education, especially inthe
state of Michigan where we have a
lot of families who don't have the
resources they had a year ago."
LSA junior Kimberly Tolbert,
of-pocket costs and encourage the
use of high-value treatments in lieu
of patients undergoing more costly
procedures.
While much of the focus on
health care reform has been eco-
nomic and political, institutional
changes to medical schools are
another important factor to consid-
er in the long term, Fendrick said.
A shift toward providing greater
health care access, he said, would
increase the demand for primary
care physicians - a change that
should be reflected in medical cur-
riculum on campuses around the
country and, later, in compensa-
tion.
"As the movement goes to pay
clinicians based on the quality of
care and health they produce, it
would make complete sense to seea
substantial increase in the payment
of those primary care providers,"
he said.
LSA senior Arun Hariharan,
however, is not entirely convinced
that a salary increase is awaiting
primary care physicians in the near
future. In the process of applying
to medical schools, Hariharan said
he is uneasy about the prospect of
entering a potentially new land-
scape of health care.
"I'm nervous,",Hariharan said.
"I was in the first class to take the

who was supposed to receive
$1,000 this year through the Mich-
igan Promise Scholarship, said the
timing of the notifications left little
room to change her plans regarding
tuition payment.
Tolbert, who also receives other
financial aid, said that if the schol-
arship doesn't come through she'
will look toward other forms of
financial aid and scholarships.
"It's really unfortunate if they
do, cause I know that the e-mail got
sent toward the end of the summer
and we're still expected to pay the
full amount that we owe, so a lot of
people have to do that last minute,
scrambling. Maybe if we'd known
earlier, then plans could have been
made more in advance," Tolbert
said.
- Libby Ashton contributed
to this report.
new SAT, the new MCAT, but this is
huge - it's your profession."
Hariharan said that a pay cut
would not deter him from pur-
suing medicine, but given the
state of the economy and medi-
cal school expenses, he said he
might reconsider his options to
pursue an administrative role in
health care as opposed to a clini-
cal one.
"Doctors are going to be affect-
ed monetarily for sure, but I don't
think it's going to be substantial
enough to change their way of liv-
ing or patient care," he said.
Hariharan, the president of
Alpha Epsilon Delta - a pre-health
honors society - said he is con-
cerned about students meeting the
demand for general practitioners.
He anticipates not only decreased
membership in pre-health organi-
zations in the near future but also
fewer overall students in the pre-
medical track.
"I think they're going to be dis-
suaded," said Hariharan. "Given
the economic troubles, it's hard for
people to make this decision and
not know where they're heading.
When there's a clear establishment
of how doctors and patient care are
going to be affected, then there will
be more stability in students' deci-
sions."

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to the CDC, approximately 9,079
IE FLU people have been hospitalized for
Page 1A H1N1 and 593 have died since the
middle of April.
States, while a report by It is difficult to determine the
sident's Council of Advisors exact amount of H1N1 cases in
ence and Technology esti- Washtenaw County because not
hat it could kill as many as everyone with the virus sees a doc-
people this season. While Ior who reports the illness. How-
imately 1 million people ever, the Michigan Department
aught H1N1 since the strain of Community Health has docu-
ped, the council estimates mented 111 confirmed and prob-
e virus could infect half the able flu-like cases that appeared
tion in the United States, or in the county as of Aug. 29. Ten
50 million people. people have died from the virus in
ical School Associate Pro- Michigan. None were from Washt-
Sandro Cinti said it is the enaw County.
affected age range that Though Cinti said the virus is
iversity officials across the not more lethal than the seasonal
y scrambling to prepare. flu - which kills about 36,000 peo-
th this particular flu, the ple each year - he recommended
t number of deaths have students should be vaccinated for
among younger people both influenzas.
n the ages of 25 to 34, so Some people have raised con-
dways concerning," he said. cerns that the H1N1 vaccination
i, an expert in infectious could cause unknown side effects
's, said H1N1 is also receiv- similar to when the government
ot of attention because it's issued vaccinations against the
t pandemic since 1968. swine flu in 1976, and the vaccine
been over 40 years since allegedly caused a paralyzing dis-
had a pandemic," Cinti said. order called Guillain-Barre Syn-
eason pandemics are con- drome.
g is because what you have While about 40 million people
ntroduction of a completely received the vaccine, Cinti said the
irus that nobody has ever side effects occurred in about 58
people and that the incident was
i added that the H1N1 virus isolated to the 1976 vaccine. Yet he
serous because people have admitted that researchers are in
nunity against it, and it has the process of studying potential
ninately affected younger effects of the 2009 vaccine.
tions. "There's no reason to think that
will be an issue for this particular
SWINE FLU VS. flu season, and the H1N1 vaccine,
SEASONAL FLU but we don't know," Cinti said.
"The H1N1 vaccine is still being
n though public health offi- tested - even now."

risk for influenza - either H1N1 or
seasonal influenza," said Dr. Rob-
ert Ernst, director of the Medical
School.
Because University students
tend to be around a lot of crowds,
protecting themselves with fre-
quent hand washing and use of a
hand sanitizer is a good strategy to
try to avoid influenza, Ernst said,
adding that students should carry
personal hand sanitizer with them
in case they are in a place where
they can't wash their hands.
Students who live in apartments
or houses with a group of people
will have to be especially careful
if a roommate gets the H1Nl virus,
several officials said.
"If you have a house with 10 peo-
ple,. you could reasonably expect
that two or three other people
might get sick," Ernst said, "But
you can actually affect that risk if
people take care of themselves by
washingtheir hands and being real
careful about keeping their hands
away from their eyes and their
mouth."
Despite all the unknown and
unanswered questions surround-
ing the topic of H1N1, Winfield
said the University is not alarmed.
"I think the right word would
be that we're concerned about the
safety of students, faculty and staff
and that were also concerned that
we canmaintainthe academic pro-
grams so that students can make
the expected academic progress
that they need to do," Winfield
said.
He added that he worries there
may be some change or unexpect-
ed developments, but for the most
part, the University is prepared.
"If there's no traumatic change
in the way the virus behaves I
think that the University commu-
nity will be OK," he said.
TOMORROW'S
INSTALLMENT
University administrators
and Washtenaw County
officials hammer out their
vaccination plans.

cials are comparing HINT to the
seasonal flu, Cinti said HIN is
more contagious than seasonal
influenza because people have no
immunity against it, but it is not
any more deadly.
"It remains a very mild flu and
most people are better and have
fevers that have gone away after
two to three days," Cinti said.
Each year, more than 200,000
people are hospitalized in the Unit-
ed States for influenza. According

STUDENTS' RISK
Regardless of the University's
virus prevention campaign, stu-
dents will be at greater risk of con-
tracting H1N1 and the seasonal flu
because of their close interactions
with other students in residence
halls, classrooms and social gath-
erings.
"There's no question that Uni-
versity students will be at greater

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