The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 2001 Page: 3 of 28
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THE RICE THRESHER OPINION FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2001
Guest column
Flawed insurance system plagues America
I like central Texas. I grew up in
San Antonio, and driving home
through the Hill Country on 1-10
under a pink sky, smelling the moun-
tain cedar, always makes
me relax a little. I feel more
at ease than I do at Rice.
Central Texas is also close
to Mexico, which is great
for late adolescence and
summer travel but bad for
car insurance; Texans pay
higher rates because of
our proximity to the bor-
der.
This is the idea of a
risk pool — the insurance
risk for cars in Texas is
slightly higher than in
Michigan because cars inTexas tend
to be stolen more often with less
chance of recovery. I understand
that, even if I don't like it, and have
contemplated getting around it by
registering my car with my grandma
in Milwaukee.
However, I don't understand my
health insurance risk pool. I'm 21
years old and thankfully still cov-
ered under my mom's insurance
plan. She's an elementary school
teacher, so she receives decent
health care benefits from her school
district in San Antonio.
As I said, I'm lucky: If I tried to
find insurance on my own, without
an employer to pay some of the cost,
it would be drastically more expen-
sive and the benefits far less com-
prehensive. Being 21 and healthy,
I'm not much of an insurance risk.
So why should I need to find an
employer to pay for health care? Why
is it more expensive to find insur-
ance on my own? Why am I in a risk
pool with post-menopausal women,
5-year-olds with ear infections and
obese football coaches?
The answer stretches back to
World War II and the gov-
ernment instigation of
wage freezes. Companies
wanted to attract good em-
ployees but couldn't do it
with higher wages. They
used health care instead,
establishing contracts to
pay for an employee's
health costs. The govern-
ment liked this idea and
made employer-paid
health care costs tax free.
However, if an individual
uses his own wages to pay
for health care, he does so with
after-tax dollars. This tax break
amounts to a 40 percent subsidy for
employer-provided health care.
So this explains the problem: If
health care purchased by employ-
ers is 40 percent cheaper than that
purchased by individuals, of course
employers will move to provide it.
What's more, the tax system cre-
ates incentives for employers to pro-
vide first dollar coverage, insurance
plans that pay for things like routine
doctor visits and prescription drugs,
in addition to catastrophic costs fol-
lowing serious illness. The tax sys-
tem is the reason we have a strong
third-party payer system and the
reason we have strange institutions
like Health Maintenance Organiza-
tions, or HMOs.
The need for HMOs stems from
the problem with third-party payers
in general: The individuals consum-
ing the health care have no reason
to control their own health care
costs. If I only pay a $5 to see a
doctor, What reason do I have not to
go at the drop of a hat? I'm going to
visit the doctor more often, and.I'll
demand to see more specialists than
if I had to foot the bill myself (a 1974
study by the Rand Corporation high-
lighted this tendency). So costs go
up and someone has to impose ra-
tioning to control them. In the United
States, rationing takes the form of
limitations on access imposed by
insurance companies.
In Canada, which also has a third-
party payer system (run by the gov-
ernment), rationing takes the form
of long waiting lines for routine pro-
cedures, slow adoption of new tech-
nology and wage freezes for health
care providers. Seriously ill patients
are forced to come to the United
States to avoid three-month delays
for procedures like heart bypass
surgery.
The U.S. and Canadian systems
are two sides of the same useless
coin. Both countries rely on third-
party payer systems that impose ra-
tioning in strange ways. But there
are alternatives allowing individuals
to make their own health care deci-
sions, such as a reformed tax sys-
tem combined with medical savings
accounts.
The first step is understanding
the flaw in the false rhetoric of single
payer advocates. The next is grant-
ing the same tax breaks to individu-
als who purchase health care as to
employers. There's no reason we
should be forced to look for em-
ployer-provided coverage.
Brad Lega
senior.
is a Hanszen College
Sober since the age of one
Childhood influences can curb violence
One of the many reasons I dislike
watching the news is that it makes
me afraid to have children. This fear
has intensified greatly over the last
three or four years as the
headlines have featured
one horrifying school
shooting after another. As
if that wasn't enough, the
country's reaction to
these incidents has been
to look for a scapegoat
instead of trying to solve
the problem.
Pointing fingers in the
aftermath of school
shootings has become
something of a sick rou-
tine for us — one can al-
most predict the order in which we
will try to blame various groups of
people. Media? Movies? Music? Par-
ents? Guns? Teachers? Or should
we just blame the kid who pulls the
trigger? Personally, I'm surprised so
few people think we should hold all
of the above accountable for
children's behavior. Most people
seem to want to narrow it down to
one or two "culprits."
Another part of the problem, 1
think, is that we frame this issue in
terms of "fault" instead of "responsi-
bility." The idea of taking on a re-
sponsibility doesn't sound very
threatening; in fact, it can be empow-
ering. Blame, on the other hand, is
something no one wants.
Consider, for instance, the posi-
tion that a child's parents are en-
tirely at fault if a child engages in
destructive behavior. People in the
entertainment industry frequently
use this argument, at least implic-
itly, to defend sex and violence in the
movies and hateful lyrics in music.
Yet the fact remains that movies
and music, like everything else we
see and hear on a regular basis, will
influence a child's thoughts and pos-
sibly his or her behavior. I'm not
saying violence should never be de-
picted in the movies or on TV, but
there is a difference between depict-
ing violence and wallowing in it.
We've essentially normalized violent
behavior, which is one reason some
young people embrace it.
Still, if the entertainment indus-
try has the power to "normalize"
something, that proves the situa-
tion is not hopeless. If
movies and music can
help shape a child's val-
ues. then they can also
be used to discourage
irresponsible behavior.
It could happen.
We can't let a child's
real-life role models off
the hook, however. Most
people would agree that
parents should, by defi-
nition, be the primary
influences in their
children's lives, and that
those who fail to teach their kids
right from wrong are partly respon-
sible for school homicides. If you
don't teach your kids that violence
has very real, permanent, conse-
quences, they are more susceptible
to violent or self-destructive behav-
ior. If you keep a loaded gun in an
unlocked drawer, your children are
more likely to hurt someone.
Then there are teachers, folks
who are asked to assume awesome
responsibilities for less-than-awe-
some pay. In addition to teaching
children how to read and write, they
are responsible for a significant por-
tion of a young person's emotional
education. Unfortunately, not all of
them accept that responsibility, and
believe me, children can sense it.
Have you ever been in a health
class in which the teacher lectured
about sex, drugs or violence in a
Ben Stein-ish monotone? Me too. it
felt as if we were being told, "Look,
I'm teaching you what I'm required
to, but really I couldn't care less
about you." I cannot emphasize
enough how damaging this kind of
classroom environment can be, and
how intimately related it is to the
feelings of alienation that can, un-
der certain circumstances, contrib-
ute to violent outbursts.
That's not to say a boring teacher
should be held responsible for a kid
who shoots up a school, but a teacher
can help students cope more con-
structively with their problems by
letting them know their ideas and
feelings will be taken seriously. If a
child needs to confide in someone,
he's much more likely to open up to
a teacher who will validate his feel-
ings and support him rather than
one who will pass swift judgment.
I'll admit school violence is a dif-
ficult problem to fix, but I don't be-
lieve it's hopeless, either. Everyone
in a position of influence over young
people needs to accept the responsi-
bility for making that influence a
positive one. Raising children prop-
erly is necessarily a team effort, and
we can only eradicate school vio-
lence if every member of the team
pitches in.
Raj Wahi (Wiess '99) is a graduate
student in chemistry.
The Rice Naturalist
Stinky seaweed spells success
for Texas beach conservation
The Rice Naturalist is dedi-
cated to giving the Rice com-
munity insight into the envi-
ronment in which we live.
Last month, I drove
to one of my favorite
places, Galveston State
Park. Beach towel in
hand, I hopped out of
the car and inhaled
deeply to experience
the warm, salty fra-
grance of the sea. My
nose wrinkled and my
smile changed to a
frown. The air smelled
sulfurous and fetid.
Approaching the
water, I saw piles of
dark, tangled blotches
of decaying seaweed along the
entire length of the beach. Small
shorebirds poked their beaks in
it, flies buzzed and seagulls
laughed in the air overhead. I
carefully walked over the sea-
weed and toward the water. There
I saw even more of the stuff, re-
sembling small, long-stemmed
bunches of tiny brown grapes
floating in every wave and wash-
ing onto the sand. I kicked the
rotten seaweed off my shoes and
turned back toward the car. I'd
have lunch downtown and visit
the beach another day.
Every year, thousands of un-
happy beach visitors and resi-
dents are subjected to similar ol-
factory attacks. But this marine
offender is far more valuable and
impressive than any overcooked
suntan. As such, it deserves spe-
cial protection from attempts to
remove it from the beach.
The seaweed I encountered is
called sargassum, of Sargasso
Joyce Lynn
Almaguer-
Reisdorf
out and diner.
Sargassum is unique among
other types of seaweed because
it does not need an anchor. Small
fish, shrimp, crabs,
snails and other sea life
that would rather eat
than be eaten con-
sume the sargassum
and hide within it.
Eventually, so many
creatures start living
on the seaweed that
the weight may drag it
to the bottom of the
ocean, where it feeds
bottom-dwelling crea-
tures and slowly com-
posts itself into ocean
sediment. When the
seaweed doesn't sink, birds and
turtles investigate the green slip-
pery stuff as it washes onto the
sand. While they don't usually
eat the seaweed itself, shore ani-
mals enthusiastically feast on the
critters who hitched rides on the
mobile diner before it struck land.
After a few hours in the warm
Texas sun, the decomposing sea-
weed begins to emit a malodor-
ous funk of a smell. Yet even in its
death sargassum provides one
last benefit to the coastal ecosys-
tem. The structure of the sea-
weed along the beach acts as a
miniature frame to trap sand and
help prevent erosion. The repul-
sive stench of decomposing sar-
gassum insults the noses of tour-
ists and ocean-front property
holders. Every year, many resi-
dents demand local and state gov-
ernments sweep the seaweed off
the beach and toss it into land-
fills.
Yet tourists and property own-
Sea notoriety. The Sargasso Sea ers are in debt to sargassum.
is an oval-shaped, warm-water
region east of the West Indies
and west of the Azores. In this
unique sea-within-a-sea, many
square miles of sargassum float
at the water's surface with the
help of numerous grape-like air
bladders. Large pieces of the sea-
weed frequently break away from
the Sargasso Sea and drift thou-
sands of miles via ocean Currents
into the Gulf of Mexico.
As the sargassum pieces move
into warm Texas waters, they re-
produce rapidly, growing in size
and number. Strong winds then
align the sargassum into long
strips that can run parallel to the
Texas coastline for miles. Float-
ing along, the nutrient-rich sea-
weed functions as a mobile hide-
First, it supports a coastal eco-
system unmatched in its produc-
tivity and diversity. Each fall and
spring, millions of birds, many of
them rare, descend upon the Gulf
Coast to eat and rest. Their pres-
ence in turn attracts thousands
of birdwatchers, scientists and
students, supporting an increas-
ingly profitable ecotourism indus-
try. Secondly, by slowing natural
erosive processes, sargassum
helps ocean-front property to re-
main just that, at no cost to land-
owners save an occasional of-
fense to the nose.
Joyce Lynn Almaguer-Reisdorf
(Hanszen '99) is a graduate stu-
dent in ecology and evolutionary
biology.
the Rice Thresher
Leslie Liu, Robert Reichle
Editors in Chief
NEWS
Olivia Allison. Editor
Rachel Rustin, Editor
Mark Berenson, Asst. Editor
Liora Danan, Asst. Editor
OPINION
Catherine Adcock, Editor
Carly Kocurek, Asst. Editor
SPORTS
Chris Larson. Editor
Jason Gershman, Asst. Editor
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Dalton Tomlin, Editor
Angelo Zanola, Asst. Editor
LIFESTYLES
Corey E. Devine, Editor
CALENDAR
Ashley Friggel, Editor
BACKPAGE
Joe Garland. Editor
Scott Selinger. Editor
PHOTOGRAPHY
Renata Escovar, Editor
Katie Streit, Editor
Rob Gaddi, Interim Asst. Editor
COPY
Sarah Ainsworth, Editor
Melissa Bailey. Asst. Editor
David Chien, Illustrator
Adam l<tzowska. Online Editor
BUSINESS
Shannon Scott, Business Manager
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Polly D'Avignon, Classified Ads Manager
Lindsay Sutton, Distribution Manager
Margaret Xu. Office Manager
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< COPYRIGHT 2001.
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Liu, Leslie & Reichle, Robert. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 89, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 2001, newspaper, September 28, 2001; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443118/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.