The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
6 — Wednesday, June 1, 2022

BRANDON COWIT
Managing Editor

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St. 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

VANESSA KIEFER
Editor in Chief

A

fter spending seven hours 
in the C.S. Mott Children’s 
Hospital emergency room, 
I am embarrassed on the University 
of Michigan’s behalf to say that I never 
once saw a doctor or nurse — only the 
stark walls of the waiting room and 
the chaos of sick child after sick child 
passing by. This was the second time 
I had this experience at Mott’s within 
about a month and a half, and based on 
various Google Maps reviews of Mott’s 
E.R., it seems this inconvenience is 
relatively common. 
I left for home in the middle of the 
night, feeling defeated by the wait time 
and still struggling with the pressing 
health problems that I had originally 
come to the hospital for. The following 
day, I tried to make an appointment to 
see an internist, but, much to my dismay, 
there was no availability for me in a 
timely manner. It felt as though I had 
reached a dead end. 
Beyond my complaining, the idea 
I’m building up to is that if you want 
immediate medical care in the United 
States, then you have to be grasping 
at your throat with your airway 
moments away from closing or have 
blood streaming out of your body at an 
alarming rate. 
Am I being a bit hyperbolic? 
Probably, yes, but my point still stands 
that healthcare in the United States is 
known to be state of the art, astounding 
or even unparalleled. Despite that, 
the unfortunate bottom line is as 
follows: U.S. healthcare is expensive, 
inaccessible, corrupt and ridden with 
racial disparities. To make matters 
worse, Michigan Medicine is doing 
close to nothing to rectify that problem.
Now, I know that is a lot of 
information to break down. To begin 
to understand our healthcare system, 
we must start with its most basic 
structure. The United States does 
not have universal healthcare and is 

instead largely based on private health 
insurance or public health coverage 
such as Medicare and Medicaid. 
Because of this, the approximately 10% 
of U.S. citizens who are uninsured face 
an increased likelihood of death or 
chronic illness from certain conditions. 
In summary, healthcare in the U.S. is 
more of a privilege than a right.
Satisfying the need for private health 
insurance comes at a great cost since 
insurance runs on a for-profit system. 
Even 
with 
insurance, 
healthcare 
is still outrageously expensive as 
insurance simply does not and cannot 
cover everything. Additionally, health 
services become expensive since we pay 
per service. This opens a gateway for 
corruption, whereby unnecessary tests 
are performed in order to make more 
profits.
The Affordable Care Act made 
healthcare slightly more affordable 
to Americans and therefore slightly 
more accessible. Despite this increase 
in accessibility, it is still difficult to get 
healthcare in a timely manner, and 
many doctors are not even accepting 
new patients.
To further outline the intersection of 
social issues with healthcare, people of 
Color, people with a lower income and 
women have a disproportionately lower 
ability to receive optimal healthcare 
than others. For example, a study 
involving 400 hospitals in the United 
States showed that Black patients with 
heart diseases were more likely to 
receive older and cheaper care, as well 
as to be discharged from the hospital 
earlier, even when not medically 
advisable, than white patients.
One of our healthcare system’s most 
saddening flaws is the issue of sexual 
abuse by medical professionals, to 
which our University is no stranger. No 
one should experience these violations 
at all. It is disappointing and disturbing 
to know this happens to those who are 
simply seeking the medical help they 
need.
As a note to the University directly: 
you first failed your students and staff 

alike by allowing medical practitioners 
to sexually assault patients. Your 
response to that injustice, the $490 
million Dr. Robert Anderson settlement, 
was only a monetary “solution,” which 
was paired with a lack of action, 
many half-hearted apologies and an 
eager effort for individuals such as Bo 
Schembechler and the administration 
as a whole to sweep the situation under 
the rug.
Excuse my lack of propriety, but 
to be quite honest, these failures are 
embarrassing 
for 
the 
University, 
misguided on the administration’s 
part and blatantly disrespectful to the 
victims and their families. Your inaction 
directly allows the issue of sexual 
misconduct by medical professionals to 
persist.
Despite these failures, I do not 
mean to exempt credit where credit 
is deserved. Our University’s Medical 
School has made ground-breaking 
discoveries, accomplished revolutionary 
medical advances and saved many lives, 
as well as been ranked among the best 
medical schools in the country. The 
Michigan Model (of full disclosure 
and open discussion when medical 
care does not go as planned) is unique, 
and also desirable from a bioethical 
standpoint. On top of that, the Office for 
Health Equity and Inclusion is helpful in 
encouraging a culturally inclusive and 
sensitive body of employees at Michigan 
Medicine.
Given this progress, we must work to 
excel in other areas as well. We should 
foster and promote an environment 
with 
increased 
accessibility, 
a 
welcoming staff with an expansive 
knowledge base, a better system for 
processing patients in terms of wait 
times and frustration, an assurance that 
all patients are being given equal care 
no matter what their demographics are 
and a zero-tolerance policy for sexual 
misconduct. Our University can expand 
upon the Michigan Model by including 
values such as these in its foundation.

QUIN ZAPOLI
Editorial Page Editor

Ballot initiatives are our best bet

Read more at michigandaily.com

Our healthcare system is seriously broken 
and Michigan Medicine is not helping

I

magine you are walking 
down State Street on a 
surprisingly 
warm 
and 
sunny 
spring 
morning. 
You 
spot someone on the corner by 
Starbucks with a clipboard and 
pen. Immediately, you know what 
comes next: “Are you a Michigan 
registered voter? Do you support 
the Fight for 15?” 
Signature 
gatherers, 
also 
called circulators, are individuals 
who attempt to collect signatures 
for ballot initiatives, referenda 
or candidates running for office. 
They are also impossible to avoid 
at the University of Michigan. 
I 
have 
been 
approached 
everywhere from South Quad 
Residence Hall to North Quad 
Residence Hall, State Street to 
South University Avenue and 
from the Central Campus Transit 
Center to the Diag to sign for 
this or that. Especially during 
the warm parts of the winter 
semester, and the summer as 
well, signature gatherers are 
everywhere and typically make 

up a slight annoyance of most 
students’ days. 
Ballot 
initiatives 
are 
the 
primary petitions I see in Ann 
Arbor, and it seems like there is 
always some new or different 
initiative to sign for, from a 
$15 minimum wage to better 
legislation on voting procedures. 
While these petitions may seem 
annoying and irritating, ballot 
initiatives could change our lives 
for the better.
Michigan is one of 26 states 
that provide for ballot initiatives 
and referenda, allowing citizens 
to 
propose 
both 
laws 
and 
constitutional 
amendments 
as 
well as referenda on legislation. 
A ballot initiative specifically is 
a type of petition that can either 
place legislation before the state 
legislature (an indirect initiative) 
or place it directly onto the ballot 
for voters to decide (a direct 
initiative). 
These 
initiatives 
require a certain number, a 
varying proportion of votes cast 
in the last gubernatorial election, 
of valid signatures by certain 
deadlines to appear on the ballot. 

Read more at michigandaily.com

A

s Vladimir Putin’s heavy 
hand uses Russia’s power 
over oil and natural gas as 
a weapon against Europe and the 
people of Ukraine, it’s impossible 
not 
to 
wonder 
how 
we 
can 
mitigate the damages he’s causing. 
Simultaneously, it’s a devastating 
reminder of the freedom we so often 
take for granted and a warning to 
increase our energy independence 
as a nation. There are many ways 
we can achieve this goal, but one of 
the best is to follow the lead of the 
European Union and quicken our 
transition to green and renewable 
energies.
We’ve known it for a long time: 
Our reliance on fossil fuels is a 
national security risk. Volatile prices 
mean that concerns over fossil fuel 
access have been a primary driver 
of foreign policy decisions. We’ve 
seen it happen countless times — 
most notably during the war in Iraq 
— and it is being played out again 
in Ukraine. Concerned by Russia’s 

power over the oil and natural 
gas market, the United States and 
Europe have been quite reluctant 
to impose the harshest, most recent 
sanctions because doing so would 
hurt their citizens’ pocketbooks. 
We know how much decisions 
like these can hurt, especially 
with gas prices being historically 
high. However, the solution to 
this problem isn’t to drill more, as 
well-funded oil and gas interest 
groups have claimed. The best 
long-term solution is to declare our 
independence from the global oil 
market and invest in American-
made clean energy. We need to 
electrify our vehicles, appliances and 
infrastructure and make America 
fully energy independent. This will 
save families thousands of dollars 
a year, make our country more self-
sufficient and provide hundreds of 
thousands of quality jobs here in 
the Midwest. Already, over 600,000 
Midwesterners are employed in 
clean-energy professions, and they 
make 25% more than the national 
median wage.

Read more at michigandaily.com

Improve our national security; 
step away from fossil fuels

ANNA TRUPIANO
Opinion Columnist

SAM SCHMITZ
Opinion Columnist

ALEC TIMMERMAN, BOB KRZE-
WINSKI & KEVIN SHILLING

