N ew s Tuesday, December 10, 2013 - 5

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com


PROTEST
From Page 1
who are the primary attendees of
the institution, and workers, who
are the primary motors of the
institution," Whitener said.
While Whitener said he agrees
that costs should be cut at the
University, he believes AST is
not the right way to do it. He said
upper-level administrators' sala-
ries should be cut and the Uni-
versity should halt "needless and
unnecessary" construction proj-
ects that cost millions. SUM has
previously voiced its opposition
to the $180 million Munger Grad-
uate Residences - the Universi-
ty's largest current construction
project.
"It is a stand-in for a larger logic
of what the University should be
and how the University should be
run, and we're opposed to that,"
Whitener said.
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald said while it is too
ACT
From Page 1
serves and better plan for income
changes.
Paul Castillo, chief financial
officer for UMHS, noted that the
analyses are only mathematical
equations used to make predic-
tions based on the current land-
scape. The majority of financial
adjustments will occur in the
coming year, once the system has
been observed and analyzed.
"It's too early to tell what
exactly is going to happen in the
exchange marketplace today,"
Castillo said. "This next 12
months is a very important time
period for us to really observe
what's happening in the mar-
ketplace and incorporate those
observations into our financial
modeling."
As some individuals begin
enrolling in health insurance for
the first time, others may have
the option to switch plans. These
migrations between systems per-
haps provide the most uncertain-
ty for healthcare providers, since
it will be difficult to accurately
estimate the new demograph-
ics until the system has been in
place for several months.
The reimbursement that
UMHS receives will strongly
depend on what portion of their
patients decide to take advantage
of Medicaid or Medicare, which
typically have lower reimburse-
ment rates than private insurers.
In any case, it will likely require
the health system to find ways
to be more efficient with the
resources available.
"If we were paid at Medicare
reimbursement rates, we would
actually see a lower overall pay-
ment level for the portion that
migrates," Castillo said. "Under
either scenario, there is a predic-
tion of lower reimbursement in
total, but the reality is we don't
know if that's going to be the
case or not."
Regardless of the uncertain-
ty, Castillo said the process of
reform was necessary given the
state of health coverage in the
United States In 2012, the U.S.
Census Bureau estimated that

15.4 percent of Americans lacked
health insurance, or 48 million
people.
"The elements of the Afford-
able Care Act that are attempting
to provide access at a reasonable
cost to a portion of the popula-
tion that has historically had

early to predict the future plans
for the consolidation initiative,
University Provost Martha Pol-
lack and Tim Slottow, executive
vice president and chief financial
officer, are currently speaking to
concerned faculty members to
gauge their opinions.
"We will continue that impor-
tant dialogue as we work together
to evaluate the different options
for structuring shared services in
the near future," Pollack said in a
statement.
Earlier this year, the University
signed an $11.7-million contract
with Accenture LLP, a Chicago-
based consulting firm, to help
facilitate the AST consolidation
process. Miranda previously
worked for the firm, but Slot-
tow said in November Miranda
removed himself from firm rela-
tions "to eliminate any possibility
of real or perceived bias."
Rackham student Diana Sierra,
a member of GEO, said the AST
consolidation efforts would hurt
the least financially stable staff

on campus and a disproportionate
amount of women employees.
"I see this as a very explicit
attack on the workers at campus,"
Sierra said. "You see that the Uni-
versity is trying to handle a so-
called budget crisis on the backs
of its most vulnerable workers,
and I think that's part of a bigger
issue as to who has decision-mak-
ing power on campus."
Although Sierra said that
workers would be potentially laid
off with the implementation of
AST, University officials said in
November that there will be no
layoffs as a result of the new Cen-
ter.
Rackham student Paige Ander-
sson said decreasing resources for
the lower-level workers on cam-
pus sheds light on what she sees
as the larger goals of the financial
framework at the University.
"The focus is away from educa-
tion and the resources to provide
an affordable education - which
affects diversity and all sorts of
other things - to basically enrich

people at the top," Anderson said.
Sierra echoed Anderson's
points about financialization at
the University - one of SUM's
main issues. As the University's
Black Student Union recently
made national news by bringing
the experiences of Black students
- who constitute 4.65 percent of
enrolled students - on campus to
light, Sierra said college afford-
ability for students from diverse
backgrounds should be the Uni-
versity's top priority.
While the University's enroll-
ment does not directly relate to
the fight against AST, Sierra said
it reflects a larger issue of who has
the decision-making power on
campus.
"I think this initiative is part
of a larger effort to really address
those diversity questions in a way
that is not an empty buzzword
(like) the University wants to
paint in their pamphlets, but that
if you're actually interested, you
actually need to have people be a
part of the process."

CONSULTING
From Page 1
properly evaluated in light of the
diverse and often specialized
needs of various academic disci-
plines and units across campus."
This resolution was passed
unanimously, leading into a
discussion about the Univer-
sity's use of consulting firms.
The resolution - drafted by

SACUA and eventually passed
with 36 in favor, three opposed
and one abstention - assert-
ed that the "tens of millions
of dollars". spent on outside
consulting firms was unnec-
essary because "the Univer-
sity is a preeminent institution
employing faculty with inter-
national expertise in fields
including business, finance,
information technologies,
organizations and education."



difficulty getting access to insur-
ance - I think those are good
tenants," Castillo said.
Enrollment will be complicat-
ed for Michiganders
In the state of Michigan, more
than one million individuals -
about 14 percent of the popula-
tion - are currently uninsured.
Given the confusion and issues
with enrollment, many of these
Michiganders may remain unin-
sured into 2014.
"I would guess that less than
half of the uninsured in Michi-
gan will gain coverage by the
deadline - probably substan-
tially less than half," said Public
Health Prof. Richard Hirth, an
expert on healthcare policy.
Recently, however, healthcare
coverage has not been the focus
of criticism. Rather, the federal
enrollment system - Health-
care.gov - has been facing the
brunt of condemnation, primar-
ily from conservative opponents,
given its myriad technical issues
and delays.
Although recent-reports have
indicated improvement in the
federal exchange system, it has
yet to be seen whether modifica-
tions to the system will translate
into higher enrollment rates.
In contrast to the federal
exchange, many states have been
successfully operating indepen-
dent enrollment programs. Four-
teen states took this option when
the law was introduced, granting
them federal funding to establish
their own healthcare enrollment
websites. While preliminary
results appear varied, seveyal
states, including Kentucky and
California, are currently operat-
ing systems that largely outper-
form the federal exchange.
Michigan had the option to
establish a state-based exchange,
but decided to utilize the federal
system instead, a move Hirth
said was motivated more by poli-
tics than other factors.
"Not having a state-based
exchange was largely politi-
cal," Hirth said. "You could
make your political statement
against the ACA, but ultimately,
since you would have the federal
exchange available, you wouldn't
have thought there would be that
much of a consequence."
Hirth does not place. blame,
however, entirely on the fed-
eral government, which likely
expected a larger portion of
states to take control of their
own enrollment sites.
"I don't think the federal gov-

ernment ever anticipated that
they'd be doing the exchange
for 36 states," Hirth said. "That
really contributed to a lot of the
problems with the rollout."
Each state added to the system
must be linked into numerous
databases and calculations must
be calibrated based on the state
laws and regulations. This pro-
cess is not only time consuming
but also highly prone to error.
"Health insurance is a compli-
cated product," Hirth said. "It's
more complicated than simply
setting up a website to sell it."
Confounding the enrollment
problems, Michigan Medicaid
expansions, which will extend
coverage to a large portion of'
the uninsured population, won't
take effect until March because
of delays in approval by the
U.S. Department }of Health and
Human Services and Michigan's
state legislature. Once in effect,
Hirth estimates just over half of*
the previously uninsured indi-
viduals will be covered under an
insurance policy.
Under the expanded Medicaid
qualifications, individuals whose
incomes are less than 133 per-
cent of the federal poverty level
will receive coverage at little or
no expense.
Young adults are a driving
force for cost
While the long-term goal of
the ACA is to reduce costs for
patients and healthcare provid-
ers, this may not be the case in
the coming year. Uncertainty
regarding the demographics
of the newly insured suggests
the annual premiums for some
plans may see an increase in
2014 as insurers equilibrate their
expenses.
"In the first year of the
exchanges, the plans were guess-
ing," Hirth said. "They had to
make their best projection as to
who is likely to enroll in a plan
and those projections are cer-
tainly at risk right now given the
slow pace of enrollment."
More than 470,000 of the
uninsured Michiganders, about
42 percent, are between the ages
of 19 and 34, according to HHS.
Although Hirth estimates the
percentage ofuninsured students
at the University is in the single
digits, these younger - generally
healthier - populations have
proven resistant to mandated.
coverage requirements. Many
students with no income are
essentially exempt from penal-
ties for failing to enroll, which

are assessed throqgh income tax.
Without these younger demo-
graphics enrolling, there are
fewer individuals to cover the
cost of care for many plans, thus
driving up prices for those who
choose to participate.
When Massachusetts passed a
statewide healthcare reform law
in 2006, which required citizens
to obtain insurance or pay a pen-
alty, the people in the greatest
need of insurance - those with
costly diseases and disabilities
- were the first to enroll. With
several weeks of enrollment
remaining, Hirth said many leg-
islators have been presuming
that national enrollment would
follow this pattern.
"It remains to be seen whether
the younger, healthier folks are
discouraged from enrolling alto-
gether as opposed to just waiting
until the last minute to make a
decision," Hirth said. "We don't
know yet whether that Massa-
chusetts experience will be fol-
lowed given that we've had a lot
more problems than they did."
Regardless of how they'll be
affected, some just don't get it
Helen Morgan, assistant pro-
fessor of obstetrics and gynecol-
ogy, teaches the undergraduate
course, "Perspectives on Health
Care." In her experience, she has
found that very few people are
properly educated on healthcare
options and policies.
"The reality is that people
don't understand it," Morgan
said. "There's so much rhetoric
and there's so much dogma and
everyone's just trying to figure
out what is the actual reality."
Given the polarized opinions
on healthcare reform, many indi-
viduals who see Morgan have
received false information from
biased sources. Moving forward,
she said the University holds
some responsibility, along-with
the administration, for educat-
ing the public on these issues.
But even in these early stages
of implementation, Morgan said
some effects are already being
seen in the health system. Most
notable in her practice, she has
been reminding patients that
certain forms of birth control are
covered under the new law.
"Prior to the Affordable Care
Act, I had a lot of patients whose
insurance plans wouldn't cover
any contraception, so we had to
make up these bogus reasons for
why they needed something just
so we could have the insurance
company pay for it," Morgan said.

PROJECT
From Page 1
after two years rather than just
delayed for that amount of time.
"It would allow people to have
a meaningful dialogue," Oey
said. She added that there isn't
enough information right now to
rush into a decision.
Dario Gaggio, associate pro-
fessor of history, said the motion
should call for the implementa-
tion to be called off completely
so as to avoid sending a mixed
message. However, the faculty
group defeated the amendment.
Dowd stressed that the imple-
mentation of AST should be
reconsidered only if the admin-
istrators and faculty members
open a dialogue and properly
investigate the costs, benefits
and alternatives.
"I think a number of us felt
that ... we would be engaging in
exactly the kind of, 'we know
better than you' that we feel we
are getting from the administra-
tion," Dowd said. "Maybe there
are parts of AST that are sal-

vageable."
Some faculty members had
mixed feelings about the pro-
posed motion and the amend-
ments. Information Prof. Paul
Edwards said the nature of the
transformation may be widely
misunderstood by faculty mem-
bers.
"I urge restraint on this,"
Edwards said. "I do not feel that
I know what AST means on any
level. I feel that it has been deeply
studied by the administration."
Although administrators sent
out a letter in November that
promised there would be no
layoffs resulting from the tran-
sition, others at the meeting
warned that the effects of AST
and the Shared Service Center
will occur by default without
the actual implementation as
employees quit to find more sta-
ble positions or their contracts
expire without renewal.
In a statement, Pollack said
the University delayed the
implementation to hear from
more faculty and will continue
the dialogue to evaluate differ-
ent options.


NOISE
From Page 1
music, even though they may not
think they're listening to it very
loudly. Subjects also suffered
from involuntary exposure on
subways and in the workplace.
In a dangerous twist, Neitzel
said the more serious conse-
quences, such as heart attacks,
occur at lower levels than
required for hearing loss. Thus,
individuals may not realize they
are being over-exposed.
Hearing loss has the poten-
tial to occur ifa person's average
exposure over 24 hours exceeds
70 decibels, or about as loud as a
normal conversation, according
to Neitzel.
"You can certainly have high
noise during the day, you just
need to have periods of quiet as
well so it all averages out," Neit-
zel said.
However, for students, expo-
sure can potentially be much
higher. Attending a noisy party
or rock concert can expose indi-
viduals to levels as high as 110
decibels, which represents a
10,000-fold increase from the
minimum level necessary for
hearing loss.
"Any time you have ringing
in your ears after noise - some
people get a sensation that the
sound is muffled - that's basi-
cally the only way your body has
to tell you that's too much noise,"
Neitzel said. "If you are leaving
a noisy event, and your ears are
ringing, or it sounds like you're
underwater, that's a sign you
got too much noise and probably

ought to not do that again."
Many people ignore such
ringing because it does not
hurt, but Neitzel said ears do
not actually hurt until about 125
decibels, which is well above
the level necessary for hearing
loss.
Ann Arbor City Code of Ordi-
nances states that individuals
cannot undertake any activity
that produces over 61 decibels
of noise beyond their property
line between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., the
permitted level drops to 55 deci-
bels.
While this code provides basic
protection from most noise dan-
gers, Neitzel said most munici-
pal police forces around the
United States are ill-equipped or
too busy to enforce noise regula-
tions.
"There are many towns where
there are no rules at all," Neit-
zel said. "Cities don't have the
resources on their own, for the
most part, to take on noise as a
problem."
Some cities, like San Francis-
co, now require concert venues
to provide or sell hearing protec-
tion to patrons. But despite such
efforts, noise hazards have yet
to gain the same level of nation-
al regulation that other haz-
ards, such as air pollution, have
received.
"Cities and counties are just
sort of making it up as they go,
rather than us taking a compre-
hensive look and saying let's do
this right," Neitzel said. "Some
cities have taken the right steps,
such as Ann Arbor, but most
have not."

Weather forces 1,650
flight cancellations

Princeton fights meningitis outbreak

Nearly 2,000
students given
vaccinne in first day
PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) -
Princeton University has begun
vaccinating nearly 6,000 stu-
dents to try to stop an outbreak of
type B meningitis in an unusual
federal government-endorsed
administration of a drug not gen-
4 erally approved for use in the
United States.
Seven students and one pro-
spective student who was visit-
ingcampus have been stricken by
potentially life-threatening type
B meningococcal disease since
March. None of the cases has
been fatal.
Scores of students were lined
up in a campus center when the
vaccinations became available

Monday. Nearly 2,000 received
shots the first day. Vaccines are
being given through Thursday,
and a booster dose will be given
in February.
The vaccinations were recom-
mended by the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The vaccine is being made avail-
able to all undergraduates, as
well as graduate students who
live in dorms and employees with
certain medical conditions. Tak-
ing it is voluntary.
Under New Jersey law, all
students who live in dorms are
required to have a meningitis
vaccine, but it does not prevent
the B strain, which responds dif-
ferently to vaccines from other
strains. The strain is the most
common in Europe and account-
ed for one-third of the meningi-
tis cases reported in the U.S. last
year by the CDC. Princeton's is

the first outbreak of the B strain
worldwide this year.
On campus Monday, students
were amused at the presence of
reporters interested in wheth-
er they had gotten a shot, or
planned to.
"It's hard to take it seriously
even though I know it's a seri-
ous situation," Ryan McDonnell,
a 20-year-old junior, said after
receiving the vaccine. "I never
considered not getting it."
He said that the experience,
including filling out a consent
form and waiting 15 minutes
after the shot was given, took less
than 30 minutes.
Another 20-year-old junior,
Jimmy van Thron, said he was
planning to get the vaccine in
coming days.
"My mom's a pediatrician, and
she told me to,"he said. "So, gotta
do what mom says."

With the most recent case
reported in November, the CDC
said there was a strong likeli-
hood of more cases despite steps
taken by the university, includ-
ing encouraging students not to
share cups. The agency says it's
important as many students as
possible get vaccinated to help
halt the outbreak. The disease
can be spread through kissing,
coughing or lengthy contact.
The Food and Drug Admin-
istration authorized the use of a
vaccine, Bexsero, that has been
approved for use in Canada,
Europe and Australia but is not
yet licensed in the U.S.
Made by Switzerland-based
Novartis, Bexsero is the only
vaccine designed to ward off the
strain. It is in the approval pipe-
line in the United States. The
CDC said it does not consider it
experimental.

Snow and cold
hit U.S. a month
before usual
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -
Snow and bitter cold snarled
traffic and prompted another
1,650 U.S. flight cancella-
tions on Monday, and tens of
thousands of people were still
without power after Janu-
ary-like weather barged in a
month early.
The storm covered parts
of North Texas in ice over
the weekend and then moved
East. Below-zero tempera-
tures crowned the top of the
U.S. from Idaho to Minnesota,
where many roads still had an
inch-thick plate of ice, pol-
ished smooth by traffic and
impervious to ice-melting
chemicals, making intersec-
tions an adventure.
Many travelers wished they
were home, and people in

homes without power wished
they were somewhere else.
Some of the most difficult
conditions were in North
Texas. More than 22,000 Dal-
las-area homes and business-
es were still without power on
Monday, according to electric
utility Oncor. That was down
from 270,000 on Friday. Dal-
las students got a snow day.
More than half of the
nation's flight cancellations
on Monday were at Dallas-
Fort Worth International Air-
port, dominated by American
Airlines. About 650 travelers
were stranded there Sunday
night.
Nationally, there have been
more than 6,100 flight can-
cellations since Saturday,
according to FlightStats.com,
including more than 2,800
by American or its American
Eagle regional airline. Ameri-
can emerged from bankruptcy
protection and merged with
US Airways on Monday.

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