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University of Wisconsin-Madison
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GAMEDAY COUNTS DOWN TO BIG TEN OPENER
Garrett Graham and company look to take down Sparty in their conference opener GAMEDAY Complete campus coverage since 1892
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dailycardinal.com
National Women’s Health Day Rally
THE DAILY CARDINAL
ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL
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Thursday, September 24, 2009
Panel stresses rape prevention By Melanie Teachout
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk declared Wednesday to be National Women’s Health Day to honor all those striving to procure comprehensive health care.
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Organizers from Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment hosted a panel Wednesday to provide UW-Madison students with information on resources available to help victims of sexual assault. Representatives from the Rape Crisis Center, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, Office of the Dean of Students, University Health Services, UW Police Department and a sexual assault nurse examiner were present to explain how to prevent sexual assault and describe the best ways to help victims. According to Rosalie Migas, director of services at Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, one major problem facing DAIS is that the shelter for victims is almost always full. “We have the highest per capita residence ratio in the entire state.
In Dane County, we have one bed for approximately every 19,000 residents,” Migas said. “The average shelter in the state of Wisconsin is one per every 7,000 residents.” According to Migas, a drawback with the tight space is when they are at full capacity they must enforce a waiting list and serve those in immediate danger first. The services provided by DAIS are similar to those in the RCC and UHS. They all provide versions of counseling and support systems for those looking to leave abusive relationships or who have been assaulted. According to Jennifer Hendrickson, community education coordinator at the RCC, there are always employees available to go to the hospital when a victim of abuse arrives in the emergency room and the hospital contacts the RCC. pave page 3
Madison UW students still face
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OUR AILING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
A collaborative reporting project of All Together Now, Madison, WI • ATNMadison.org
By Ryan Hebel THE DAILY CARDINAL
The U.S. Census Bureau cited Wisconsin as one of the most widely insured states on Monday, but that’s little consolation to thousands of UW-Madison students who lack health care and view every health insurance experience as a never-ending wait for the dentist. About 10 percent of UW students said they were uninsured or didn’t know if they had insurance in a recent University Health Services survey, according to UHS Director Sarah Van Orman. “There are some students who simply do not have health insurance [other than UHS coverage],” Van Orman said. “I don’t think they’re not trying to get care, it’s just that they can’t afford it and they’re making difficult decisions.” According to a 2008 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, young people from 19-29 years old represent 30 percent of all uninsured people, and with the current recession, more students are losing their parents’ health benefits, forcing them to buy private plans or risk going uninsured. “Unfortunately many people ... have a sense that, ‘we’re young and omnipotent and that we’re never going to get sick ... it’ll never happen to us and I don’t want to spend $100, $200 or $500 a
health-care obstacles
Part one of a series with All Together Now focusing on the national health-care debate month for health insurance,’” said Byron Crouse, UW professor in Family Medicine. That’s a big risk, according to Van Orman. “If you don’t have insurance, an emergency visit, just for a simple thing, can be anywhere between $500 and $1000 ... something like an appendicitis, that could easily be $5,000 to $10,000.” “I don’t think they’re [students] not trying to get care, it’s just that they can’t afford it and they’re making difficult decisions.” Sarah Van Orman director University Health Services
Other students who don’t live in the Dane County area may fall under their parents’ Health Maintenance Organization, but such plans are often regionally based. “Usually it’s not a problem if they’re from Green Bay or Milwaukee, but sometimes it’s Minneapolis, sometimes it’s New York,” Van Orman said. “If you break your leg and go to the emergency room that’s covered, but when you need to see a specialist a week later, the HMO will say, ‘you
can come home.’” For students who need any or better insurance, Orman said 3,000 currently purchase UHS’ Student Health Insurance Plan, or SHIP, which offers health-care coverage to students for $1,476 per year (or $615 for the fall and $861 for the spring and summer semester). Orman acknowledged some students find cheaper policies under private insurers, but typically, “you pay for what you get.” Red flags include high deductibles, numerous policy exclusions, high coinsurance rates, maximum out-of-pocket costs and other provisions. Capped benefits are especially problematic for students because they’re often “in the fine print.” “They’ll say they’ll pay all your upfront costs, but then they’ll have an in-patient cap, a day-surgery cap or a lifetime maximum cap,” Orman said. Orman welcomed students to bring in possible policies to the UHS staff for review. If students prefer outside consulting, many non-profit health-care advising organizations exist in Madison, including ABC in Health and Madison’s Center for Patient Relationships. Look for more coverage of the health-care debate by The Daily Cardinal and All Together Now in the coming weeks.
ALISON BAUTER/THE DAILY CARDINAL
Experts from various sexual assualt resources provide information on ways to prevent rape and help victims Wednesday at a panel.
Survey ranks UW entrepreneur programs among best in U.S. Both UW-Madison graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurship programs within the School of Business ranked among the top 25 in the nation, according to a recent survey. The survey, conducted by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine, ranked the graduate program at 11th and the undergraduate program at 16th, according to a release. The release said the survey reviewed over 2,000 programs across the U.S. over a seven-month period, and this is the first year both UWMadison graduate and undergraduate programs ranked in the top 25.
Mike Knetter, dean of the UWMadison School of Business said the programs aim to provide an education that is relevant to the outside world. “Our business school is focused on bringing undergraduate and graduate students from across campus in close contact with local companies and startups, and helping to create opportunities for new ideas and technology to drive the future,” he said in a statement. The survey ranked the programs based on academics, students and faculty and outside-of-the-classroom education.
“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”