El-Sayed also viewed the current
pandemic and its implications for
Medicare for All through a political
lens, discussing the implications the
COVID-19 virus may have on the
passing of favorable legislation in the
future.
“We’re talking about a mass
trauma that we are all experiencing
right now, and that’s terrible,”
El-Sayed said. “But every time
someone has to go bankrupt for their
cancer care, every time someone
who gets really sick can’t see a
doctor — that’s a mini tragedy on
its own. And even though it’s not
collectively experienced, let’s not
undersell the cost that that has on
those individuals and the fact that
it’s happening to 10 percent of our
population or 42 percent of people
who have cancer.”
El-Sayed
emphasized
the
importance of preventative care
over reactive care, stating the ways
in which it would cut costs overall.
“One of the most important
aspects of Medicare for All is that
it streamlines the incentive set to
prevent disease, which reduces
health care costs over the long-
term,” El-Sayed said. “And because
it’s the government, the only real
intended outcome is, rather than
making money off the system,
to promote the well-being of the
population.”
El-Sayed explained the way in
which American insurance and
medical systems currently work.
“One of these things we’ve seen in
this system is this crazy amount of
consolidation on either side,” he said.
“The biggest hospital groups or the
biggest payers are able to negotiate
to consolidate the market around
themselves, in effect creating local
oligopolies or even monopolies.”
El-Sayed further critiqued the
American
health
care
system’s
current
market
structure.
He
explained the ways in which it does
not display the traits of the free
market championed by members of
the American public and critics of a
single-payer healthcare system.
“The problem with American
health care, and health care in
general, is that you don’t actually
know what you want,” El-Sayed
said. “You have a deep information
asymmetry. I walk in, and I know
I’m sick and I know I want the
sickness to go away, but I don’t know
what I need to make the sickness go
away.”
During this discussion, Rackham
student Rebecca Copeland asked
El-Sayed about the implementation
of a sweeping policy like Medicare
for All.
“Something that I think a lot
about when I think about Medicare
for All is how a lot of the services
and general operation of a program
like this would be contracted out to
private contractors because that’s
how most of the (Affordable Care
Act) implementation is happening,”
Copeland said. “I was wondering
what your thoughts were on that
and how you see something like this
being implemented.”
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer
declared a state of emergency
on March 10 after the first cases
were detected in Michigan.
Whitmer
has
since
banned
gatherings of more than 50
people, closed all schools and
public spaces and restricted
hospital visits. Whitmer also
put a shelter-in-place order into
effect beginning March 24.
Other
states,
including
California,
New
York
and
Illinois,
have
also
issued
similar orders. With Americans
unable to leave their homes —
unless in cases of emergency
— campaigns have been forced
to shut down campaign rallies,
face-to-face town halls and
canvassing events.
“This
was
in
nobody’s
playbook,” Hughes said. “It kind
of took everyone by surprise. It
required
some
maneuvering,
and I’m really proud of our team
in being able to pick up where
we left off.”
Both Sanders’s and former
Vice
President
Joe
Biden’s
presidential
campaigns
have
mandated that staffers work
remotely.
Field-organizers
will continue campaigning via
digital platforms such as phone
banking and mobile updates.
Both
candidates
have
also
shifted to conducting “virtual”
town halls and broadcasting
their speeches remotely.
Biden has switched all of his
efforts to online campaigning,
recently holding a virtual town
hall in Illinois that was stopped
fifteen minutes into questions
due to technical difficulties. He
has also held a virtual fundraiser
and plans to continue virtually
campaigning amid the COVID-
19 outbreak.
Andrew
Schaeffler,
LSA
freshman
and
co-founder
of Students for Biden at the
University, said the campus
organization plans to readjust
its efforts to support Biden by
working remotely and focusing
on virtual campaigning.
“We can’t have a presence on
campus, but that doesn’t mean
that we’re not doing everything
we
can,”
Schaeffler
said.
“There’s still virtual campaign
events that are happening, that
our members are participating
in. And (this crisis) just goes
to
show
that
when
you’re
dealing with these problems
as president, you don’t want
someone that needs on-the-job
training. And I think that for
many voters, that will be the
deciding factor.”
President Donald Trump has
also had to adjust his campaign
due
to
the
outbreaks.
He
recently postponed or canceled
events in Colorado, Nevada and
Wisconsin. Trump has also
called for all of his campaign
staffers to begin working from
home and has canceled all
in-person rallies and events
until further notice.
Students for Trump did not
respond to The Daily’s request
for comment.
Down-ballot campaigns have
also had to scramble to find
alternative ways of engaging
voters that do not jeopardize
an individual’s health or safety.
Some have halted campaigning
entirely for the time being
while some have switched to
more
virtual
outreach
and
campaigning.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell,
D-Mich.,
who
is
up
for
re-election
in
November
in
Michigan’s 12th Congressional
District, spoke to The Daily
about
halting
her
current
campaign efforts for the time
being to focus on serving her
constituents to the best of her
ability.
“I don’t think (campaigning)
is a priority,” Dingell said.
“I’ll have to figure it out down
the road. But now, I’m not up
there saying, ‘vote for me.’ I
don’t think it’s appropriate to
ask people to vote for you right
now. I’ve been very focused on
making sure everyone’s okay.
What are we going to do to
make sure that people are safe?
My campaign will come back
up again in a few weeks. My
job is to represent the people of
my district, to make sure I can
do everything I can to fight for
them.”
Solomon
Rajput,
Dingell’s
opponent in the Democratic
primary, has moved all of his
campaign operations online and
ordered his staff and volunteers
to work remotely from home.
Rajput spoke to The Daily about
the
importance
of
keeping
voters engaged by helping to
put to the forefront what issues
voters care about most.
“You know, this isn’t just a
regular campaign,” Rajput said.
“We do need to make sure that
we are doing what we can to
improve people’s lives during
this crisis. (We are) able to
really focus in and rally around
(the issues) people will be facing
during this crisis and are trying
to help people through that and
let people know that we’re here
to champion their issues … I
think it’s important for people to
demonstrate their commitment
to materially improving the
lives of Americans.”
Marianne
Drysdale,
LSA
senior, is working to re-elect
Sen.
Gary
Peters,
D-Mich.,
who is up for re-election in the
fall She serves as co-president
for Students for Gary Peters,
a student group that is not
directly affiliated with Peter’s
campaign but has still focused
its energy on supporting his
candidacy.
She
said
in-person
interactions play an important
role in campaigning.
“Things have really, really,
really
changed,
because
in
organizing the most effective
way to transition a conversation
into a vote is through in-person
interaction,”
Drysdale
said.
“And for us, campaigning now
is probably going to be mostly
using
our
personal
digital
networks and reaching out to
other people that we know to
use their digital networks. So
it’s a completely different kind
of strategy.”
As campaigns have struggled
to adjust to life amid the
coronavirus,
the
general
election itself could also be
affected.
States
across
the
country have already begun
to
postpone
their
primary
elections set to take place in
March or April to later in the
summer.
“No one really can predict
what the world will look like
in November,” Drysdale said.
“Because there’s scenario A,
which is people aren’t worried
about (the election). People
are more worried about their
dire economic circumstances
or about exiting the house. Or
scenario B is that people are
really frustrated with the status
quo of our federal leadership or
people are feeling all the more
empowered to be keeping up
with the news … I don’t think
that anybody really has the
capacity to be able to predict
exactly what’s going to happen.”
Rajput
also
noted
the
uncertainty.
“We can’t even see two weeks
out right now,” Rajput said.
“Everyone’s just taking this
day by day … I think what is
paramount to our country and
also thousands of individuals
is to ensure that everyone is as
healthy as possible.”
Reporter Julia Forrest can be
reached at juforres@umich.edu.
“I believe that students should
have the option to either have
them refunded or carry over
into the next year,” Richardson
said. “Because then you’ll have
seniors who aren’t going to use
them anytime soon and already
paid for this. If you don’t get it
back, that’s just the University
taking money.”
Richardson
also
said
her
primary concern with MDining
was about her leftover Blue
Bucks and Dining Dollars.
“My main problem when it
was time to leave was that I had
a bunch of Dining Dollars and
Blue Bucks leftover,” Richardson
said.
While
Blue
Bucks
are
refundable and automatically
transfer from year to year,
MDining is still evaluating its
options in regard to Dining
Dollars.
Students who had optional
meal plans should expect to
hear from MDining about their
individual
circumstances,
as
each case will be evaluated for a
refund.
LSA sophomore Alec Bayoneto
lives off-campus but has the 55
Block optional meal plan. This
plan costs $1,432 for the fall
and winter semesters, and when
Bayoneto left campus, he said
he had 17 unused meal swipes
left. As of Wednesday, Bayoneto
said he has not received any
emails from MDining regarding
a refund for his optional meal
plan.
“I
know
that
we’re
all
struggling right now to handle
everything,” Bayoneto said. “If
they reimburse us, that would
be one less thing to worry about
right now with readjusting to the
way things are with everything
that’s going on. For plans like
mine, you can see how many
swipes you would’ve had left.
It’s about $12 a meal, so they can
just easily total that up and give
you back an exact amount.”
LSA
freshman
Dominic
Colletti
also
lived
in
East
Quad. Colletti said he was
glad University Housing was
reimbursing
students
but
questioned the logic behind the
amount they were offering. He
speculated the prorate for the
room alone would be close to
$1,200 at the cheapest rate and
said many students are not on
the cheapest rate for room and
board.
“I think there’s absolutely no
reason not to prorate. It’s a little
trickier because, with housing,
everyone’s already signed their
contract and already paid with
dining,” Colletti said. “It gets
a little trickier with students
who
have
off-campus
meal
plans because a lot of them
have used a lot of their meals
… I can foresee that being more
complicated, but unlimited meal
plans should be just prorated
plain and simple. Divide the rate
by however much time is left in
the contract.”
Students who are staying in
the dorms should not expect any
change in the price of their meal
plans. According to Mangan,
changing the meals from dine-
in service to take-out boxes does
not interfere with their ability
to provide meals during the
week and on the weekends.
“Michigan Dining continues
to provide breakfast, lunch and
dinner every day with brunch
and dinner being provided on
Saturday and Sunday so there
will be no change in meal
prices,” Mangan wrote.
Richardson said even though
everyone is working to adjust to
extreme new changes, she thinks
University services still need to
be accountable to students.
“I understand that a lot of
departments in the University
are
scrambling
to
figure
out what to do and we’re all
struggling,
but
that
doesn’t
take away from that fact that
there’s still a program that has
a responsibility to provide for
the students,” Richardson said.
“So when they can’t provide
meals anymore, we should be
compensated in some way.”
Reporter Jasmin Lee can be
reached at itsshlee@umich.edu.
Thursday, March 26, 2020 — 3
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