I SSU E
15
The Independent Student Voice of Boise State Since 1933
Volume 22
First Issue
F R E E OCTOBER 12, 2009
ARBITERONLINE.COM
UNEMPLOYMENT WOES
Meeting brings big names to campus
BUDGET 2
POLICE
HOLDBACKS
3
SWARM
6
3
Check inside to find out who is coming and why
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A breakout Vandals football team The Vandals are having a strong season, but just how good are they? PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JEREMY OLIVER/THE ARBITER
Healthcare reform bill put to vote Tuesday; BSU reacts JENNIFER SPENCER Journalist
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Police swarmed the engineering building What happened? Check inside for The Arbiter’s coverage
The Senate Finance Committee’s vote on the newest healthcare reform bill Tuesday could drastically transform the current healthcare system. In response to Obama’s proposed healthcare reform bill in the House, HR 3200, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, introduced his own version, also called America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. If passed, it will become meshed with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee bill before moving to the Senate floor. Sen. Baucus’s bill would cover an estimated 94 percent of Americans and require
every citizen to obtain healthcare by Jan. 1 2013 or pay an annual penalty, depending on income. Costing $829 billion over the next decade, money for the new plan will come from more than $500 billion in governmental spending reductions, including Medicare, beginning in 2011. Insurers and medical equipment manufacturers will be hit with $10 billion in new taxes to help pay for the plan. The main difference between Obama’s plan and Sen. Baucus’s bill is the elimination of the public option. The public option, led by a governmental advisory committee, would provide mandatory insurance to those who cannot afford their own coverage. Instead, the America’s Healthy Future Act
provides the option of maintaining coverage with private insurers or enrolling in a nonprofit health care cooperative. Cooperatives are non-profit organizations which ensure profits go back into patient care. The plan offers four income contingent levels of coverage which all provide basic benefits, including primary care, prescription drugs, and hospitalization. Notably, individuals with preexisting conditions will no longer be barred from coverage and Medicaid eligibility standards will change, increasing the amount of people that enroll. In contrast to Obama’s plan, Sen. Baucus's bill does not require employers to pay for their employee’s health coverage. Coverage will be denied to Health Care [ page 6 ]
House passes Student Aid, Fiscal Responsibility Act BENJAMIN MACK Journalist
More federal aid is on the way for students struggling to pay for college, thanks to new legislation passed by Congress Sept. 17. Called the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, the legislation knocks private lenders from the student lending market while beefing up funding for Pell Grants and, the Congressional Budget Office reports, save taxpayers an estimated $13.3 billion between 2009 and 2014. The bill, passed largely along party lines, sets a deadline of July 1, 2010 for all American higher education institutions to switch their loan systems to the federal direct loan plan, creating savings by eliminating the Federal Family Education Loan program, which allows private banks to originate loans for students at subsidized rates. According to the bill, the Secretary of Education will be able to “implement activities and services that increase students’ persistence in and completion of postsecondary school,” and develop a database to track students’ success in schools and in the work-
force. It also permits states to make grants to nonprofit organizations “including student loan guaranty agencies to implement the program.” “This is (the) right thing financially,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said of the bill. “This is the right thing economically. This is the right thing educationally.” Duncan added that the bill will be a good long-term investment for students as well as for the overall health of the economy. “The Student Aid Fiscal Responsibility Act will allow us to invest $87 billion in savings,” Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said, who wrote the bill. “That will help us make college more affordable, to build a world class community college system, to improve opportunities to help our younger students succeed and pay down the deficit.” Seen as a victory for Democrats and President Obama, Republican leaders derided the act as a federal takeover of the student loan industry and complained that despite the act’s title, little about the bill reflects fiscal responsibility. “Today’s vote was about expanding the size and scope of the federal government through tens of billions of dollars in new House Passes [ page 6 ]
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