Thursday February 10, 2011 year: 131 No. 23 the student voice of
The Ohio State University
www.thelantern.com
thelantern Plan would extend student health care
arts & life
COrY SHaFFer Lantern reporter shaffer.294@osu.edu
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March Madness expansion?
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith does not expect to discuss a 96-team NCAA Tournament bracket ‘at all.’
arts & life
A new proposal will extend consumer protections outlined in President Barack Obama’s health care law to students purchasing health insurance plans through their college or university, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in a conference call Wednesday. Steve Larsen, director for the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at the department, said the proposed regulations would prevent university and college insurers from: • denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions to students age 19 or under • placing lifetime limits on health care • dropping coverage due to an error in paperwork • using less than 80 percent of revenues generated by premiums on health care “One of the most vulnerable groups of Americans in our old health insurance system is young adults,” Larsen said.
Aaron Smith, co-founder and executive director of Young Invincibles, an advocacy group for young adults, said the proposals represent a “major victory” for young people. “This win happened because young people spoke up,” Smith said. Larsen said the regulations, Steven bloom if finalized by the department, would not take effect until the beginning of the 2012-13 academic year. “We wanted to get it out now to give the universities a heads up as to what’s coming,” Larsen said. Steven Bloom, director of government relations at the American Council on Education, said some insurers have already raised premiums, even though the proposals would not go into effect until next year. “We hope this isn’t a trend,” Bloom said. At Ohio State, about 15,000 students are enrolled in the comprehensive health insurance plan, and
about 4,000 enroll in the supplemental plan in addition to the insurance they already have, said Diane Plumly, director of Student Health Insurance. According to the Student Health Insurance website, the annual premiums for the comprehensive plan and the supplemental plan are $1,629 and $187, respectively, for domestic students for the
aaron Smith
2010-11 school year. Plumly said the student insurance program operates on about $32 million a year. “That is used to cover costs of providing health care to students, claims and administrative costs,” Plumly said. The proposed regulations will not have much of an effect on OSU’s plans, Plumly said. “We offer a pretty comparable plan,” she said.
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Fire causes $50K damage MIKe HUGHeS Lantern reporter hughes.1217@osu.edu
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Shakespeare through music
Trombone player Delfeayo Marsalis will perform Shakespeare using Duke Ellington music Saturday.
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Omelet next up for food stuffer
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Caution tape, boarded windows and smoke-blackened apartments welcomed students returning to their Campus View Village Apartments on Ohio State’s Newark campus after Tuesday night’s fire. Chase Collier, an undecided first-year at the Newark branch, said the fire consumed two apartments. Collier’s apartment and the one above his were significantly damaged after a cooking accident in Collier’s apartment. Newark Fire Department Assistant Chief Bill Spurgeon said a stove was the cause of the fire. Collier, who was driving back from a snowboarding trip, said he received calls from concerned friends asking if he was OK. He said he was confused until someone told him about the fire. “We had to go to the gym for three or four hours,” Collier said. “After that, the Red Cross paid for our hotel.” Besides the free hotel stay, the American Red Cross of Licking County provided $110 to each student to purchase essentials, Collier said. Barbara Collier, Chase’s grandmother, visited after the fire and called her grandson’s apartment a “total loss.” In all, the fire moved 40 students from their apartments. Of those 40 students, 26 stayed in a hotel for the night. Ben Stevens, a first-year in fashion retail, said he lost almost everything in his apartment. “I heard a huge bang,” Stevens said. “The fire (was) up to the ceiling and burned a hole in the floor.”
anDY GOtteSMan / Multimedia editor
burnt debris, including a chair and a refrigerator, is piled near a side entrance to the Campus View Village apartments on Ohio State’s newark campus Wednesday afternoon after OSU workers began cleanup following a fire tuesday evening. Stevens said everyone in the complex evacuated before firefighters arrived. Everything in his apartment was either wet or blackened by smoke, Stevens said. “It was like walking through fog,” Stevens said. Stevens’ footwear situation reflected his lack of belongings. After being interviewed, he skidded through
the icy, below-freezing apartment parking lot in pink Croc sandals and socks en route to his car. Spurgeon estimated the fire caused $50,000 in damages, calling the damage “significant.” The complex is partially uninhabitable and fire officials are unsure when the damaged apartments will be livable again, Spurgeon said. The two-building apartment complex
houses students attending OSU’s Newark campus and the Central Ohio Technical College. Collier said his apartment and the one above it are uninhabitable. He said the damage will displace a total of 14 students for a while. Despite the fire, Collier said he attended classes on Wednesday. But not before visiting Wal-Mart to buy a notebook and pencils.
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Students and employees of local hospitals and universities can no longer look forward to riding Central Ohio Transit Authority’s Health-Education Line, a new line originally planned for September. The Ohio Department of Transportation decided Tuesday to rescind $10 million that was previously set aside for the New Service Starts program. Nine programs, including COTA’s Health-Education Line, have been cut from the budget, said David Rose, public information officer for ODOT. COTA spokesperson Beth Berkemer said COTA cannot move forward with the Health-Education Line as planned. “We are disappointed. Whenever it comes to losing the opportunity to provide additional service, we’re always going to be disappointed,” Berkemer said. “We wish that we could provide this service still, but at this point we just can’t.” The Health-Education Line was going to be a 9.6-mile route that connected local universities and hospitals to one another. The line would have connected OhioHealth at Riverside Methodist Hospital, the OSU Medical
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Funding for a new Central Ohio Transit Authority route planned to start running in September was cut Tuesday, eliminating the scheduled route. The HealthEducation Line would have connected local universities and hospitals.
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Nationwide Children’s Hospital Lantern file graphic
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