Ka Leo O Hawaii

Issue date: 6/18/08 Section: Commentary

Media Credit: Courtesy of UH-M?noa Increasing UH's student health fee may seem unnecessary to students that are strapped for cash, but improvements to the college's health service programs will pay off over time. [Click to enlarge]

College students aren't known for maintaining healthy lifestyles. Instead, they're famous for parties, promiscuity and procrastination. Though such activities may be symptomatic of a university's vibrant social scene, their cost to a school's medical staff is significant. Thankfully, the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents has acknowledged this fact of campus life by voting to elevate funding for UH's health center.

Last month, the regents approved a plan to increase UH's student health fee over a five-year period, nearly quadrupling the charge from $17.50 to $68 per semester. The fee would increase by $10.50, to $28, for the upcoming fall semester and $10 for each subsequent year until 2013.

Summer session fees would also increase by $4 per year over the same timeframe, with the cost to students soaring from $6 per summer session to a total of $26.

While some students feel that the fee increase is an unnecessary financial encumbrance, the university's primary health services facility, University Health Services at Mānoa, is facing fiscal shortfalls that could jeopardize existing levels of medical care, eventually leading to a reduction in services. Since 1995, when the student health fee was implemented, university funding for health services has been reduced from 80 percent of UHSM's operating budget to less than 14 percent.

Furthermore, the approximately $10 co-payment assumed by students for each visit covers only 38 percent of UHSM's annual budget, with another 27 percent currently coming from the student health fee. When coupled with a 25 percent increase in the utilization rates for the health center's medical clinics, pharmacy and clinical laboratory, these numbers point toward an income gap that's projected to expand over the next three years.

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