Opinion: Students Deserve Affordable and High-Quality Healthcare

By David Doan
Contributing Writer

It is a tough time to be Graduate or Professional student in the UC system. With rising fees, decreasing TA-ships and a high cost of living, it is challenging to pursue a Graduate or Professional Degree in California. One of the issues that does not get as much attention, but is still vitally important to Graduate and Professional students is the rising cost and declining quality of the Graduate Student Healthcare Insurance Plans (GSHIP).

Unlike undergraduate students, GSHIPS vary significantly in regards to benefits, premiums and decision-making processes. For Graduate and Professional students, quality health care is an essential part of the overall affordability and experience at the UC. Rising costs and decreasing quality are placing an unfair financial burden on Graduate and Professional students.

The UC’s lack of affordable dependent coverage has forced many Graduate student parents to opt in to Medical or California’s Healthy Families Program, a state funded program for people living under the poverty line. Corin Boyko, a graduate student parent explained that “having children should not prevent people, both men and women, from getting an education. The financial hardship and logistical difficulties associated with a lack of dependent insurance for children is nearly prohibitive for students who have children. This is not the way to take care of graduate student needs.”

Graduate and Professional students play a critical role in conducting research and teaching on the UC campuses, and they deserve high quality health care. Creating a more equitable health insurance system is an important component in attracting and retaining hardworking, talented Graduate and Professional students.

This year, the UC Student Association (UCSA) has been working with administrators from the Office of the President to represent Graduate and Professional student demands for reform in GSHIP. We are working to raise the standard of care on all campuses and protect current benefits. UCSA successfully lobbied to increase student participation in this process and to price out our priorities which include: dependent coverage, COBRA, increased mental health care, and reciprocity in the new GSHIP. We are currently collecting online GSHIP testimonials at ucsa.org.

Our stories are powerful and have the ability to influence decision makers.

David Doan is a second-year dental student, the ASUC VP of External Affairs and a Board Member of the UC Student Association.