Students wait for health bill to pass Senate before holding further events

While student groups have used the health care debate in Washington to foster political awareness, campus programming may be stalled along with the bill.

As President Barack Obama and Democrats celebrate the passage of the health care bill in the House of Representatives, Columbia’s political and health-focused groups are holding off on events until the bill goes through the Senate. While the Columbia University College Democrats and Republicans care mainly about the particular issues surrounding the bill, other campus groups want to inform students and encourage debate.

The recent passing of the health care bill by the House of Representatives marked a turning point in what has been a contentious debate, both at the Capitol and on the steps of Low Library.

Dems Media Director Nancy Huemer, BC ’10, said that last month’s health care debate between the College Democrats and Republicans, sponsored by the Columbia Political Union, was “one of our biggest and most successful events.”

“It’s always good to have that kind of discussion with someone you don’t agree with to really get a better understanding of why they are supporting something different,” she said.

College Republicans Communications Director Derek Turner, CC ’12, said that while the bill was inconsistent with the group’s fundamental tenets, it was important for students to understand different approaches to health care reform. Turner noted that the College Republicans are hoping to bring in a representative from the Manhattan Institute, a policy research think tank, to discuss the Democrats’ and Republicans’ respective health care bills.

But CPU and the Columbia University American Medical Students Association, both nonpartisan groups, are more concerned with informing individuals about the different solutions proposed rather than shaping their opinions.

“We [CPU] are trying to align our events with the agenda of Washington,” Sajaa Ahmed, CC ’10 and general manager of CPU, said. “We just ask that people inform themselves. … The majority of the student body might not know the different sides of the debate.” She added that CPU worked with the College Democrats and Republicans on a collaborative pamphlet with statements from each group.

Joseph Villarin, CC ’10 and co-president of CU AMSA, said that its four committees have been “watching this debate with interest.”

“Around election time, the public health committee did events looking at different perspectives on health care reform debate,” he said. “The McCain plan, the Obama plan. … We tried to keep it current.” He added that the bioethics committee also explored recent “death panel” and end-of-life counseling claims.

Ahmed and Villarin noted that they have worked with non-political groups while exploring the debate—CU AMSA has also collaborated with the Charles Drew Premedical Society, a group “particularly focused on minority premeds,” Villarin said.

Columbia groups such as Student Health Outreach have also made an effort to bring the debate off campus, working with programs like the Children’s Defense Fund, which works with community-based organizations and school programs to help children get low-cost or free health insurance.

SHOUT “provides health insurance to children who are not legal in the United States,” Silvia Puma, CC ’10 and SHOUT co-coordinator, said. “What SHOUT is trying to do … is advocate for children who are uninsured after the bill passes.”

This past month, SHOUT co-sponsored a Children’s Stroller Brigade with the Black Students Organization, College Democrats, Project Health, CPU, and Project for the Homeless, which paraded empty strollers in front of New York Senator Charles Schumer’s office to symbolize uninsured children.

SHOUT co-coordinator Iman Hassan, CC ’10, explained that “the purpose was to get our representatives to support simple, comprehensive, and affordable health insurance for children.”

SHOUT also recently showed support for the Casey Amendment, an amendment from Senator Robert Casey, Jr., a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania, that would uphold the Children’s Health Insurance Program until 2019.

But student groups are temporarily sitting on their hands, waiting for the Senate to move before they do. “It’s [health care-related programming] something that we did very much during election season,” Villarin said. “We didn’t want to start repeating ourselves.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article referred to the group Student Health Outreach as Students for Health Outreach. Spectator regrets the error.