Schroeder Center hosts discussions with policy experts

Ariel Cohen ʼ14, Heather Saunders discuss healthcare policy, COVID-19 implications for funding

Tuesday, March 28 and Monday, April 3, the College of William and Mary’s Schroeder Center for Health Policy held a series of talks with health policy experts in Chancellors Hall. e talks serve as part of the Center’s continued e orts to educate students about public policies related to healthcare.

e talks included Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured Heather Saunders and health policy reporter for CQ Roll Call Ariel Cohen ’14. Saunders discussed behavioral health coverage in state Medicaid programs, while Cohen detailed the policy implications of the expiration of the Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 which occurs on May 11, 2023.

Saunders provided an overview of KFF and her role within the organization. She then provided an overview of Medicaid, a public health insurance program for individuals and families with limited incomes and resources. Since Medicaid is a federal-state partnership program, bene ts vary by state.

“Because of the state exibility and what they can cover, there is variation by state,” Saunders said. “ ere were a lot of emerging issues around COVID and states had some exibility through emergency authorities. We’ve also seen in recent years a lot of changes in the mental health and substance use disorder space.”

Saunders discussed the status of Medicaid expansion, which was

CAMPUS part of the A ordable Care Act, and makes health insurance more a ordable for people with lower incomes. According to Saunders, 39 states have adopted and implemented Medicaid, and two more states — South Dakota and North Carolina — have adopted but not yet implemented the Medicaid program. She noted that the 10 states yet to expand Medicaid are mostly concentrated in the South.

Saunders also showed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to highlight the growing prevalence of mental health conditions in the United States, especially among Medicaid bene ciaries. She noted the major gap in access to treatment for behavioral health services, stating that less than 50% of individuals report symptoms of mental health conditions.

“When you look at di erences by people of color or by other factors, we see major disparities, also big disparities in age,” Saunders said. “Young adults are the least likely of any age group to need treatment, to receive treatment, which has important implications for university settings like this.” population, or 158 million people, live in a mental health workforce shortage area. Today, only 36% of psychiatrists accept new Medicaid specialists — a percentage far lower than other specialties.

Saunders detailed ndings from KFF’s Behavioral Health Survey of state Medicaid programs, which serves as a supplement to the 22nd annual budget survey of Medicaid o cials. KFF’s survey provides state Medicaid o cials with a list of 55 behavioral health bene ts and asked them to indicate which were covered under the fee-for-service Medicaid programs for adults, as of July 1, 2022.

After discussing the supplemental survey, Saunders turned her attention back to broader themes from the budget survey, including telehealth and workforce issues. She noted that nearly half of the U.S.

“A lot of that probably stems from the stigma, the longstanding stigma around behavioral health services and the disproportionate value that’s placed on physical health services over mental health services,” Saunders said.

Saunders detailed state Medicaid program initiatives to address the workforce shortage, including reimbursement increases for providers, extending the workforce through peer support specialists and addressing administrative burden.

Saunders then turned her attention to telehealth. As of 2021, all reporting states in the KFF survey covered telehealth delivery of behavioral health services. She discussed the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in increasing utilization of telehealth services.

“We know that this space just kind of exploded and there was all of a sudden this need to explore telehealth where people are kind of tinkered with it before but there were administrative barriers,” Saunders said.

Unlike many COVID-19 pandemic policies, Saunders expects telehealth expansions for behavioral health to remain in effect beyond the end of the pandemic.

Saunders ended by answering several questions from student attendees and faculty members.

College team ties for first place in annual Women’s Stock Pitch Summit

Raymond A. Mason School of Business hosts eighth annual summit, university teams compete for prize

A woman’s inability to speak in a way understood by men can hinder her longevity in a male-dominated industry like finance.

To the largely female audience, she suggested they find a middle ground and be aware of both direct and indirect communication

Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1, the Raymond A. Mason School of Business hosted its eighth annual Women’s Stock Pitch and Leadership Summit for undergraduate students. Twenty stock pitch teams from universities around the world competed for a first place cash prize of $5,000.

The Boehly Center for Finance within the Mason School of Business and the philanthropic Society of 1918 funded the summit. Smart Woman Securities, a nonprofit organization that teaches students, particularly women, about finance and investing, organized the Stock Pitch portion of the event. Each team had 10 minutes to present their stock pitch, an argument on why an investor should consider buying shares of a specific stock, and 10 minutes to answer questions from the judges.

The preliminary round of pitches began on Saturday morning. By mid-morning, the College, Utah State University, Memorial University of Newfoundland and the University of Notre Dame were selected as the four teams to present their final-round pitch later in the afternoon.

The leadership portion of the summit consisted of two panels.

Dr. Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University and author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, presented the first panel. She shared her findings that men, from childhood, communicate directly, whereas women tend to communicate indirectly.

“Women in the workplace are facing what I call a double bind,” Tannen said. “A double bind is a no-win situation, you have two sets of requirements and anything you do to fulfill one actually offsets the other.”

Tannen stated that assertive women are often seen as bossy and unlikeable, while demure women are often not taken seriously.

Off-campus housing prices concern students

Dr. Sarah Stafford publishes affordable housing analyses for City

HOUSING from page 1 at’s also something that a lot of rst generation low income students don’t have is that nancial planning, that risk planning, when it comes to living o campus,” Fox said. “It’s comforting to have a person like, ‘You know what, I see this rental contract. I don’t think this is going to be the best for you with your money,’ or ‘I see this rental contract and this is concerning.’ So, having a person that would be dedicated to that, would be amazing and it would de nitely calm a lot of nerves for FGLI students because they have not done this before.”

Economics and government major Miguel Burford ’23 is currently working on an independent study about the rental market in the City and how the College’s student demand a ects the market. Burford noted the issue of leasing agreements and how they can negatively a ect student renters.

“Students have trouble navigating, getting favorable lease terms and stu like that, negotiating a favorable rent price or rate that they would be paying,” Burford said. “Because of the way that there’s just such scarcity of these places to live around Williamsburg for students, it’s like you don’t really have a choice. Even if you go to a landlord that has a place that you want to stay in, I mean, you really can’t negotiate with them or try because they’re just going to rent to the next group of students that comes in after you.” e scarcity of housing surrounding the College is rooted in the lopsided supply and demand in the area. ere is an overwhelming demand for low-to-mid range priced rentals in the area within walking distance of the College, and not enough supply of these properties. is has led to a steady increase in the pricing of rentals in the area.

The City’s 2021 Affordable Housing Workgroup commissioned CSX Professor of Economics and Public Policy Dr. Sarah Sta ord, chair of the College’s economics department, to publish a ordable housing analyses of the City’s housing market. When summarizing her research, Sta ord described that although there are more expensive rentals for the higher income brackets in Williamsburg, rentals aimed at middle and low income brackets, which includes students, are more expensive in the direct area surrounding the College than they are further from the campus.

“If you’re really focused on, I would say, the student and the lower to middle income brackets, there’s an impact on… rentals within walking distance,” Stafford said. “If you go out to the Second Street ones, you can save $100 or more, a significant amount, by moving further away from campus. But it’s really inconvenient and it’s a different kind of setting — there’s lots of families there, there’s just not the same vibe. So I mean, students are clearly increasing prices around the campus, but you’re not going to nd the most expensive rentals here because you’ve got that other kind of class of rentals that’s really kind of aimed at the retirees.” styles to network more efficiently and have a more successful career overall.

Sta ord noted that many of the modern apartment facilities, which students often cannot a ord, drive up the overall rental prices in the area, while demand for housing stays at the same, inflated level.

Aside from gaining experience in the pitching process, networking was the main goal for participants at the summit, especially for those who traveled for the event. The leadership portion gave attendees the space to talk with other tables. Associate Director of Alumni

Campus

Relations Abby Everard shared that over the years, event coordinators have incorporated more time between pitches for visiting students to build relationships at the College.

“We like to have kind of a more robust schedule for [participants],” Everard said. “Then they can talk to alumni, they can talk to mentors and professors and professionals who come, just so they can get more out of their experience.”

Some non-competing students from the College also attended to network with visiting industry professionals and other undergraduates. The event also served as a learning opportunity for younger students wanting to learn and compete in future years.

“I think [the summit] is really beneficial,” Kendyl George ’26 said. “Both for networking, but also developing my understanding of different areas within finance.”

Keynote Speaker and College alumna Michelle Avery ’98 gave a brief talk on the importance of upholding her own personal values in her career path. She shared a humorous story about having to wear the only heels that she packed for a work trip, which were both left-footed. She tied the story back to her key value of grit in her work.

After Avery, the audience split for a second panel in one of four rooms: Reflections of my first job: Ten things I wish I knew as a young professional, Composing Career and Life, A Profile: The Intentional Philanthropist or Leadership with a Passport.

Students vouch for climate policy on campus

Sign-movement is the first of its kind on a college campus

“If we raise the price on these polluters, then this increase in price will go through the economy, so products that require more fossil fuels will become more expensive,” O’Keefe said. “ is will incentivize people to shift to greener products and businesses to shift to greener products.”

In 2019, the Wall Street Journal released a statement from over three thousand economists, including 13 economics professors employed by the College, in support of a carbon dividend. The Climate Leadership Council called it the “largest public statement of economists in history.” The CCL website states that there are 64 carbon pricing policies currently in operation worldwide in over 25 countries. Australia and the United States are the only developed economies that do not have a nationwide carbon price. Co-president of the College’s CCL chapter Corina Chang ’25 discussed the importance of this movement in 2023.

“I want to emphasize the importance of our role as students and young people in the ght against the climate crisis,” Chang wrote in an email to e Flat Hat. “I believe as young people we have a LOT of power, because adults in o ce are much more likely to listen to us.”

Co-founder and co-President of the College’s CCL chapter Philip Ignato ’23 re ected on the early stages of the movement on campus.

“At first I was a little bit more hesitant about incorporating it into the meetings because [O’Keefe] was just so passionate about it that she wanted it to be a big part of our club,” Ignatoff said. “And it has grown to be a big part of our club, which I’m glad about. Her vision is that it’s going to be a worldwide movement, but I feel like even if it is just on campus, it’s really getting the word out a lot more than I’ve been good at in the past.” e simulator allows policymakers, educators and the general public to simulate climate policy solutions. e En-ROADS simulator states that though the earth is currently projected to warm around 6.4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, a carbon fee and dividend policy would reduce this temperature to 4.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ignato mentioned that O’Keefe is currently working on a website for the sign campaign in order to spread awareness of the movement and educate others about the impacts of carbon pricing. One of the most utilized visual tools O’Keefe has included in the website is the En-ROADS simulator from Climate Interactive and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative.

“If the U.S. alone had a carbon price, it would not do this, but it would contribute to that and incentivize other countries to have carbon pricing and also set an example for other countries to have carbon pricing,” O’Keefe said.

O’Keefe’s passion for activism is highly influenced by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg’s climate campaigns. According to O’Keefe, the snowball effect Thunberg has showcased is something this campaign is attempting to accomplish, as well.

“I think what’s really important with a movement is that it’s easy to join in, because when I think about climate strikes, not everyone is able to strike for the climate on a consistent basis,” O’Keefe said.

“A lot of people care about the climate, so if all the people who cared about the climate were leveraged in a way that was visible and outspoken, then we would get really far.”