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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