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Editor:
Your Nov. 4 editorial "Have Insurance?" misses one major point and uses an asinine argument for another. First, the $50,000 lifetime maximum offered through the UA health insurance is ridiculous and shameful. Anyone who has been keeping up-to-date with the growing health costs in this country is painfully aware that $50,000 is more than an order of magnitude less than what is necessary to care for a major hospital visit. The fact that almost every insurance company in town offers maximums 20 - 40 times higher should be a dead giveaway. I would go as far to say the UA is negligent in offering this health insurance plan which they know is useless when a student is faced with a major accident or illness.
Secondly, your statement "International students come here knowing the rules" as a reason that foreign students should accept the insurance is ludicrous. Did you ever think through the implications of your statement? Think of an argument the administration can use following your logic: "Students should not expect the university to keep the library open longer than we currently do. They came to the UA knowing that although we claim to be an academic and research institution we do not keep our library open 18 hours a day, every day of the week." Although I am not using a factual argument (i.e., I do not know exactly how many hours the library remains open), I would hope you see the point.
While the main thrust of your editorial may be entirely correct - that the administration has tried to work with the international students to come up with the best solution possible - using an argument, 'Those were the rules when you decided to come here' does not mean students do not have the right to work to change the status quo. And you really should have hammered in the point of the embarrassingly low lifetime maximum of $50,000. For that reason alone I chose not to accept the UA plan for students. I know of people in their twenties with medical bills approaching $250,000. Why pay for an insurance plan that is not there when you need it most?
Take it to the next logical step (which I am surprised you missed in your editorial); does the administration have the same maximum for their families?!? Does the administration expect students to want their families to have less? Do not forget that the UA plan is for all students, not just the international students. And do not forget most graduate students are close to 30, with families, and need the university insurance. This is not just an international student issue, and even it was, that is not justification for your 'they knew what the rules were' attitude.
Tim A. Mallo
visiting graduate student
chemical and environmental engineering
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