The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, June 09, 1993, Image 7

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: Jason Thomp-
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Wednesday, June 9,1993
The Battalion
Page 7
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Editorial
Regent bill unrealistic
Students not suited to serve Board
The Student Regent Bill, which
vould allow a non-voting student
o sit on the Texas A&M System
loard of Regents, died at the end of
he last legislative session before the
House could take a vote.
The bill failed for the 22nd time
ot because legislators ran out of
ime, but because the Student Re
gent Bill is completely unnecessary.
The bill, if passed, would allow a
single student to represent all of the
schools in the Texas A&M System.
This student regent would not have
a vote and would not be allowed to
attend closed sessions. But regard
less of how powerful the student re
gent would be, he or she still has no
place as a member of a board that
|makes decisions irrelevant to the
* daily lives of students.
The majority of business items
ucwF/LEwrithe regents discuss has little impact
Jon the daily life of the student body
’iat the universities the Board repre-
nin g; Jsents. The agenda items for the
: advice for i|j on g^ ^ r y two-day meetings of the
igt is yea lg oarc j ran g e f r0 m reports from the
and visit, but‘ Committee for Land and Mineral
d put on the 1 Resources to updates on the Facili
ties, Planning and Building Com
mittee. Few students have the
knowledge or interest to give the
Board constructive input on the ini
tiation of a construction project or
the authorization to sell revenue fi
nancing system bonds.
Much of the business the regents
uses sports ( discuss does not involve Texas
and it is in
nsure a fu-
blauch said. |
iw a lot of
df, miss play-1
d being a }
A&M University, but other schools
and agencies in the A&M System,
which consists of seven schools scat
tered across the state and eight state
agencies.
A student regent from Texas
A&M University cannot possibly
give advice to the Board about an
action bid for structural repairs on
the chemistry building at Prairie
View A&M University.
Further, it would take too much
time and energy for a student regent
to prepare for every two-day board
meeting, which involves the study
of pounds of paper work. Students
would have to miss two full days of
class just to sit in on the meeting,
not to mention the study time it
would take to review the agenda.
It is just not practical.
Besides, students are already rep
resented within the University on
matters that greatly affect them.
Student leaders meet frequently
with A&M administrators to voice
concerns of the student body. It is
the job of these university adminis
trators to relay student concerns to
the regents if the concerns are ap
propriate and fall under the juris
diction of the Board.
It is obvious that a non-voting
student with a seat on the Board is
nothing more than symbolic. The
bill is a waste of time, energy and
money. Our legislators have more
important matters with which to oc
cupy their time and our tax dollars.
Single-payer system hikes costs
Canadian health care plan offers U.S. no guidance
MATT
DICKERSON
Columnist
A s the U.S. health care sys
tem undergoes the radical
surgery of nationalization
this year a lot of health care ideas are
being tossed about. The so-called
single-payer system, in which gov
ernment serves as the insurance com
pany deserves comment, if only be
cause of resurgent popularity.
An April 26 New Yorker editorial,
heaving with great purpose, pro
claimed "the pile of evidence that a
'single-payer' system — the Canadi
an system — works better than any
other is by now so high that it is al
most embarrassing to have to re
assemble it here." The editorial goes
on to cite by now familiar statistics that Canada spends
about nine percent of its gross national product on health
care compared with the United States' figure of 12 percent
of its GNP, yet Canada leads in life expectancy and infant
mortality.
First off, there is little relationship between infant mor
tality or life expectancy at birth and health care expendi
tures, which tend to correlate to per person GNP, and a
study of 20 industrialized countries by economists Rexford
Santerre, Stephen Grubaugh and Andrew Stollar found the
level of government funding of health care has no signifi
cant impact on infant mortality or health care costs.
However, among 80-year-olds, there is a significant rela
tionship between life expectancy and health care spending
comparable to the influence of per person GNP. Eighty-
year-old U.S. males and females have on average a life ex
pectancy half a year longer and a year longer, respectively,
when compared to 23 other industrialized countries.
Perhaps no other statistic is so overused and misunder
stood in cross-national comparisons of health care perfor
mance than health care as a percentage of GNP. It cannot
be correctly inferred from this statistic that the Canadian
health care system has successfully controlled health care
expenditures.
Health care as a percentage of GNP is a fraction, and as
you have probably learned by now in college, a fraction
consists of a numerator divided by a denominator. As a
fraction increases over time, we need to know if this
growth is caused by changes in the numerator (health care)
or in the denominator (GNP). As in turns out, the behavior
of the denominator, GNP, explains almost all of the differ
ences in health care as a percentage of GNP between Cana
da and America.
In 1967, health care as a percentage of GNP was virtually
the same for the U.S. and Canada, at 6.33 and 6.38 percent,
respectively. But between 1967-87, Canada's real per per
son GNP grew by 74 percent while the figure for America
was 38 percent. If we examine health care spending alone,
we find that over this same 20-year period, the real annual
percentage change in health care spending per person in
creased more rapidly in Canada, at 4.58 percent, than in the
United States, at 4.38 percent. And between 1967-87, the
medical care and health services price index increased 373
percent in Canada and 302 percent in the United States.
Furthermore, America and Canada differ in many re
spects that affect health care spending. For example, the
U.S. male homicide rate is five times the Canadian rate; for
every homicide there are 100 assaults. The U.S. AIDS rate
is some three times, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate two and a
half times, the birth rate twice, and the abortion rate three
times the respective Canadian rates. The United States also
has a slightly older population. If such lifestyle and cultur
al variables — which are estimated to account for nearly 25
percent of American health care spending — are accounted
for, and concealed government overhead costs are factored
in (the cost of collecting taxes for health care does not show
up in Canada's health statistics, while American health care
statistics include the cost of collecting private insurance
premiums) Canada would be spending as high a percent
age of GNP on health care as the United States.
The single-payer or Canadian health care system has the
fastest growing health costs on the continent and happens
to be one of the most expensive health care systems in the
world. The Canadian system freeloads on American tech
nology and regularly uses U.S. hospitals as a safety valve.
What savings the Canadian system generates rely upon
denying care and queuing. Because of these flaws, the
adoption of a single-payer system is not likely to solve the
problems in America's flawed system, but further magnify
them.
Dickerson is a sophomore economics major
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Loss of power provides insight into other side
ON
id Clinic
it, call:
re East
Ya know, just when you think
you've experienced it all, something
crops up that blows your mind. Some-
I thing that significantly affects a socio-
!} logically fixed and personally comfort-
| able perspective. Such is most certain-
1 ly my case.
\ A few months
I ago, a roommate
I brought home an
/ acquaintance
from work (hard
labor), a case of
beer, and carton
of cigarettes.
John (not his real
name), the ac
quaintance, was
hilarious and told
jokes to which we
all screamed with
laughter until he
Went home. This
episode was re
peated a number of times, and I was al
ways talked into joining them (the
power of free beer and smokes). One
evening John came over when I was
the only one home and asked if I
Would like to go have a few drinks,
since he just got paid and would pick
FRANK
STANFORD
Columnist
up the tab. How could I refuse?
He drove us to a fairly well-known
establishment and proceeded to order
drinks for us and volley interesting,
amusing conversation until closing. I
had a good time, and was feeling even
better. Taking the long way home,
John began to discuss his general mis
trust of women, particularly his ex-
wife, and what a hag she was. As
would any self-respecting drinking
buddy, I replied empathetically and af
firmatively to most of his statements.
About half-way home John asked
me if I ever had a bisexual experience.
Since I like to think of myself as toler
ant of all beliefs and lifestyles, I merely
replied, "No, are you bisexual?" John
answered, "No, I'm just plain gay, and
very interested in you."
Suddenly my evening with one of
the guys took on a very different tone.
As he drove toward my apartment, I
explained my assurance of being
straight, and that although I wasn't of
fended by his overture, I was most cer
tainly uninterested. What was interest
ing to me, however, was that because
of the elements involved — taken out
in his car, drinks bought, being under
the influence, propositioned, and taken
home — I was a male experiencing a
loss of power with another male. But it
didn't stop there.
John followed me into my house,
opened a couple of beers for us, and
continued trying to explain the joys of
being gay. Following many drinks, an
endless supply of cigarettes, and a
post-midnight stupor, I will enjoy even
an argument with a tree. So, instead of
being angry at John, I proceeded to test
popular and personal theories of ho
mosexuality on the real McCoy. Even
though my demeanor was calm and
matter-of-fact, John continued to make
stronger and stronger sexual overtures,
each being met with an equally power
ful negation. I decided it was time for
him to leave, and politely pushed him
toward the door. Upon seeing his car
drive away, I acted on an impulse to
lock all my windows and doors, then
sat down to ponder the evening's expe
rience.
This is what I decided.
Even though I am in no way homo-
phobic, and have worked with gay in
dividuals on a number of occasions, I
was still a little nervous about this giv
en situation. On the surface it ap
peared that homosexuality was the
cause of my anxiety, but upon closer
scrutiny, it was the feeling of being
pursued and objectified, while in a less
er position of control, that truly both
ered me.
John gained my confidence over a
short time, invited me to have drinks,
drove me in his car, paid for and
pushed drinks on me, propositioned
me, took me home and continued mak
ing overtures until I pressured his exit
and locked my windows. Even in my
own home, I felt a little uneasy having
to steer furtive glances and forward re
marks away from me, as well as to de
termine how I had sat and what body
language I had displayed.
For many men, perhaps, a similar
scenario might evoke feelings of fright,
hate or violence. But for me, this other
wise stressful experience was a fasci
nating and enlightening sociological
experiment, bearing for me one central
thought:
Women contend with this type of
situation repeatedly . ..
Stanford is a graduate student in philoso
phy
Editor’s note:
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013 Reed McDonald for
The Battalion Reader’s
Panel.
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