The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2010 Page: 3 of 20
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Op-Ed
Health-care reform not immune to flaws
On Tuesday, with the strokes of
22 different pens, President Obama
signed into action the Senate's
Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act, with the Health Care
and Education Reconciliation Act
in tow.
Rodrigo Flores
In an era characterized by issues
with global implications that can
only be solved by the concerted ef-
forts of the world's governments, the
passage of this legislation has dem-
onstrated the ill effects of a break-
down of consensus within govern-
ment, with the winning Democrats
resorting to forcing through their
desired changes, and the opposing
Republicans steadfastly declaring
that they will continue to "just say
no." The conservative voter base
has been whipped into a blind rage
by political pundits; liberals seem
able only to wring their hands and
hope for the best.
The political theater that has re-
sulted from this partisan extremism
paints a grim situation for the fu-
ture of policymaking in the United
States. Education, immigration,
climate change, foreign policy and
many other issues will nepd to be
addressed in the near future; all
will bring about heated debate at
the dinner table, in TV studios and
on the floor of Congress. Solutions
will not be brought about by end-
lessly deregulating the markets;
what is needed is intelligent, bal-
anced legislation to ensure the
well-being of the people while pre-
serving the economic driving forces
of capitalism. If the majority party
must shove every bill down the
other side's throat, doing serious
damage to their intended goals in
the process, there is little hope for
resolving these big issues.
The health care reform bill,
has the potential to help millions.
Fewer people will show up at emer-
gency rooms to receive obligatory
treatment, and then saddle the
hospital with the bill when they
walk away, unable to pay. The end
of coverage denial and cancella-
tion due to preexisting conditions
that may be unknown to the in-
sured, coupled with the increase
in the total number of people cov-
ered, will result in better quality of
life, as people will no longer have
to live with the prospect of sud-
denly losing insurance or not be-
ing able to get it at all. Mandatory
coverage of preventative care will
nip health problems in the bud
before they worsen and require
expensive drugs and surgeries. It
will be good for doctors, who will
receive more patients, and for in-
surers and drug companies, who
will get more customers.
The changes will also almost cer-
tainly raise costs for consumers. In
order to make up for the profits lost
by having to insure less-than-healthy
customers, insurers will raise pre-
miums. Big Pharma will continue
to battle makers of generic drugs
for health-care dollars, passing the
costs onto the insurance companies,
the government and ultimately, the
American people. Doctors, who will
not receive the tort law reform they
so desired will continue to special-
ize instead of practicing primary
care, further reducing a patient's
possibility of getting balanced care,
no matter who's footing the bill.
Slightly increased taxation and
cost cutting will be hard-pressed to
mitigate these effects. The looming
budget deficit and rising public debt
cloud the future. For now, health
care will still primarily be about
money, not health.
The current health-care system
is broken, and is dragging the rest
of the country down with it. I'm
happy to see that change is being
attempted, instead of waiting to let
the situation hopefully fix itself.
Ideally, the PPACA will successfully
improve the health conditions in
the United States, while maintain-
ing the integrity of the private sec-
tor and keeping costs in check. This
is important: This nation stands
poised to prove that its particular
brand of democratic socialism ac-
tually works. The symptoms are
clear; a diagnosis has been made.
Let's hope that next time, the sec-
ond opinion, the one that preserves
the balance, is actually there.
Rodrigo Flores is a
Martel College senior.
i have always felt strange about
having Housing and Dining staff
clean up after me. H&D staff members
take out my trash each day and clean
my bathroom on a weekly basis.
Christine Pao
As someone who was raised with
her fair share of chores, I found it
odd to shed the responsibility of
cleaning up after myself just as I
was finally approaching the point
of maturity and self-sufficiency.
But, realizing there are probably
dozens of reasons why the adminis-
tration rightly employs staff mem-
bers to maintain students' personal
facilities among them allowing
students to focus on their studies
I accepted it.
Since then, I have come to ful-
ly appreciate the cleaning staff's
hard work and positive pres-
ence. Every day, I am greeted with
friendly smiles, warm acknowledg-
ments and upbeat attitudes. I have
discovered that the entire H&D
staff, from the custodial staff to the
chefs to the repair crew, contributes
greatly to the sense of community
and caring on campus.
This past weekend during Beer
Bike, I was saddened to see students
make huge messes at their colleges
for the cleaning staff to take care
of. Vomit, trash and spilled alcohol
were all too common sights, and few
students bothered to clean up after
themselves. I realize much of these
actions were accidental and cer-
tainly not done maliciously or with
blatant disrespect, but I am still ap-
palled that college students of such
generally high intellect could be so
careless as to not discard their cups
in the trash can five feet away.
It's Beer Bike. I get it. It's a time
to let loose and get crunk. I know
that we appoint extra H&D staff just
to come in that Saturday to clean
up after us, so that we won't have
to worry about it, but it doesn't
give us an excuse to completely
forgo all responsibilities for our ac-
tions. Throughout the day, I kept
wondering what the cleaning staff
must have thought of us after see-
ing the mess we created. Frankly, I
was embarrassed.
Perhaps it is inevitable that a few
thousand drunk college kids will
make a mess. But regardless of our
level of intoxication, we should still
try to show the cleaning staff some
respect. The presence of a custodial
staff on campus does not entitle stu-
dents to careless, messy behavior.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not ad-
vocating putting an end to a long-
standing tradition. I love Beer Bike
as much as the next person. I do
think, however, that some of our
careless actions during the event
highlight disrespectful behavior
students exhibit year round, which
makes me wonder: Have we be-
come so sheltered that we are above
cleaning up after ourselves? Are we
really going to create more work for
H&D just so we can have a messy,
wild day of partying?
I don't think it has to be this way.
When you have trash to throw away,
don't just toss it onto the grass.
When you spill food in the elevator,
clean it up to the best of your abil-
ity. Pick up an empty beer can you
see lying around. Every little effort
we make to clean up our messes
will bring us closer to showing the
H&D staff that we care about them
as much as they care about us.
Christine Pao is a
Martel College sophomore and
Thresher opinion editor.
Time, schedule management
necessary for increased sleep
Messy behavior demonstrates disrespect
A social life, good grades or
sleep: The joke is that in college,
you can only pick two out of three,
or you'd exhaust yourself trying to
achieve it all. To a college student,
sleep is one of the most precious
commodities and at times, a tempo-
rarily unnecessary luxury.
Mr■
&
Aida Luu
One of the most important things to
learn in college is how to manage time
effectively. There are so many opportu-
nities that are thrust your way: research
opportunities, internships, athletics,
being a part of the dozens of clubs on
campus or just making the most of the
classes you take at Rice with faculty
who are at the top of their field. If you
are one of those people who want to do
it all, you need to know how much you
can take on and to what capacity. But in
the midst of all your efforts, you need to
find time to sleep.
Time is a scarce resource, and this
inevitably involves trade-offs in life
with what we do with our time. Even
though sleep feels like something
we can do without, hence the ever
popular all-nighter, it is biologically,
physiologically and psychologically
imperative that we get a sufficient
amount of sleep in order to function.
How often have we heard our
friends say that they were working on
a paper, only to find themselves on Fa-
cebook half an hour later commenting
on and "liking" the latest Beer Bike
pictures? Social media and the Inter-
net as a whole have infiltrated our
psyches and we often find ourselves
addicted to updating our Twitters and
replying to e-mails as soon as we wake
up. While social media is a great tool
and medium for facilitating network-
ing and keeping in touch, these sites
make it all too easy to procrastinate,
which nearly all college students are
guilty of, including myself.
In my natural habitat, I find
myself needing at least 10 hours of
sleep a night in order to wake up
without the aid of an alarm clock.
That is a lot of sleep to be had,
which requires me to go to bed ear-
ly. But oftentimes, there are things
that come up, whether an assign-
ment I need to finish before going
to bed, or an impromptu dance par-
ty in the Lovett quad that I choose
over sleep.
That's why I am such a big fan of
napping. Naps are one of the greatest
pastimes of college students, and I find
myself frequently taking them whenev-
er I have time. Power naps are great for a
quick recharge and may work wonders
in getting your mind back on track and
fully refreshed to tackle that problem
set or paper. I have, on more than one
occasion, walked into friends' rooms to
find them sprawled face down on their
beds for an impromptu nap.
Sleep-deprived students should
try to find any time they can to sneak
in a nap. When studying late into the
night, you often get to a point where
you are too tired to be able to absorb
any more information or do any more
quality work. Taking a power nap of-
ten helps with focus and concentra-
tion. I have seen students slumped
over in slumber in Fondren Library
with textbooks in their hands, or in
the Lovett Commons sleeping on one
of the couches with their laptop next
to them. It is better to allocate time for
these breaks than to overwork your-
self and unexpectedly crash for an in-
definite amount of time and wake up
in a panic over that lost time.
Time management doesn't al-
ways come easily, and I have come
to learn there are several things that
are effective for me when I have a
lot of things on my agenda to get
done. Each day, I come up with an
index card or post-it note of things
I need to accomplish that day,
and usually I continually add to it
throughout the day as more things
come up. I also use Google Calen-
dar for more longterm projects and
deadlines. It is a great feeling when
you can cross out all these things
you have accomplished, and there
may be things that roll over, but as
long as you allocate time to finish
everything you need to, there is no
need to stress over it. '
it
At times when all
you want to do is
take a much-needed
nap but just don't
have the time, tell
yourself that sleep is
for the weak anyway.
99
You should also try to leave some
space open in your schedule for ran-
dom and spontaneous events. I usu-
ally have at least a two-hour block
not assigned to anything so that in
case anything comes up, such as an
impromptu viewing of Notorious in
the commons, I can go to it. If any-
thing, I can always use that time to
nap, or to do more work anyway.
But when you truly find yourself
strapped for time, sleep can be made
up later, which is what weekends
and extended breaks are for. The life
of a college student isn't consistent,
and it always seems like there aren't
enough hours in a day or days in a
week. At times when all you want to
do is take a much-needed nap but
just don't have the time, tell yourself
that sleep is for the weak anyway.
Aida Luu is a
Lovett College sophomore.
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Wilde, Anna. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 97, No. 24, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2010, newspaper, March 26, 2010; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth398518/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.