America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009

Does the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009 Senate bill potentially ban limited duration products–i.e. student health insurance?

The American College Health Association (ACHA) thinks so. GPC is currently discussing the issue–so please let us know what you think.

 

The short letter to Senator Max Baucus can be found <a href=”http://www.acha.org/Oct_9_09_SHIBP-Limited_Duration_Products.pdf”>here</a>.

Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221)

PRESS RELEASES
Statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on House Passage of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (HR 3221)

FOR RELEASE
September 17, 2009 Contact: press@ed.gov

“Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to give America’s college students the biggest increase in financial aid since the GI Bill. The bill will guarantee increases for the Pell Grant program for the 2010-11 year and beyond. It will overhaul federal student loans to make them more efficient while saving taxpayers billions of dollars over the next decade. A share of the savings will also help reduce the deficit and promote high quality early childhood programs. It will support Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and other Minority-Serving Institutions, ensuring that these critically important institutions are integral to institutional improvement efforts at both the national and state levels.

“The bill will help restore America’s global leadership in higher education, paving the way for a stronger economy. The bill ensures that more students who are willing to take responsibility for their education can go to college and earn a degree. I am especially grateful to Chairman George Miller for his leadership in sponsoring this important legislation and for his commitment to quality and affordable higher education for all Americans.”

ASUM to host healthcare forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ASUM TO HOST HEALTHCARE FORUM

The Associated Students of the University of Missouri, in partnership with the MU College Democrats and College Republicans, will host a Healthcare question and answer forum on Thursday, October 1st at 7:00 p.m. The event will be held in Allen Auditorium of the Arts and Sciences Building on the University of Missouri Campus. ASUM is assembling a panel of experts from multiple Colleges and Departments across campus, including but not limited to the Schools of Medicine, Law, Business, and Social Work, the Veterans Administration, and the School of Health Professions Department of Healthcare Policy. Each member of the expert panel will give opening remarks, followed by a period of written questions drawn at random from the audience, and a final segment of open questions from the floor. ASUM hopes to provide MU Students with the opportunity to raise their own awareness of pressing political issues, while simultaneously providing clarification on their concerns about healthcare in America.

The Associated Students of the University of Missouri is a nonpartisan group that represents the interests of the 64,000 students in the University of Missouri system. ASUM’s mission is to advocate and lobby for student interests while educating students on the importance of involvement in government In the past, ASUM has been critical in obtaining a student representative to the Board of Curators (1984), creating the Bright Flight scholarship (1986), ensuring access to closed meetings for the student representative (1999), securing a textbook transparency bill (2008), and countless other student- friendly legislative successes since its inception in 1975. Additionally, ASUM promotes political responsibility and awareness through voter registration and dissemination of nonpartisan information pertinent to current student issues.

Media Contact: Woody Smelser, ASUM Campus Director

wwsqmb@mail.missouri.edu, 573-225-4080

HPV vaccine

Missouri Students Association
University of Missouri – Columbia
Bill #49-1

A Resolution Renewing the Promotion of Vaccine Availability Awareness

Purpose: To make students aware of an extended opportunity to prevent life-threatening illness by obtaining free HPV vaccine and to update information presented in Bill #48-

WHEREAS, the Missouri Students Association Senate passed Bill #48-103 on March 18, 2009, to increase student knowledge of an opportunity to receive the HPV vaccine for free at the Boone County Health Department, and

WHEREAS, this opportunity was funded through a grant program that was to expire on March 31st, 2009, causing the legislation to reflect that limited time frame for that opportunity, and

WHEREAS, Senate Speaker Amanda Shelton was notified by the Health Department over the summer that the grant program has been extended by $1,000,000 since that time, which should provide several months of free vaccine availability, and

WHEREAS, this vaccine has been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration and is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control for girls as young as 9 and adult women as old as 26 to provide long-term protection against four strains of cancer and disease-causing HPV, and

WHEREAS, studies are currently being done to test the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine in women over the age of 26, and

WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control in 2007, genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is “the most commonly sexually transmitted virus in the United States,” and

WHEREAS, HPV can cause several serious illnesses, including cervical cancer, which is the second most prevalent cause of cancer deaths in women around the world, and

WHEREAS, more than fifty percent of adults contract HPV at some point in their lives, and
WHEREAS, the Columbia/Boone County Department of Health and Human Services Division of Clinic and Nursing is offering the three shot HPV vaccine series for free as part of a grant program provided by the Missouri Foundation for Health, and

WHEREAS, each shot in the three-shot series will cost over $160 at the health department after the grant funds are exhausted and currently costs $153 at the Student Health Center,

WHEREAS, vaccines can be given on a walk-in basis Monday through Friday from 8-4:30 at the Health Department, even over the lunch hour, and

WHEREAS, studies have shown that HPV vaccine can cause mild side effects, including pain, redness, swelling, or itching at the injection site or fever but can cause a serious allergic reaction, and

WHEREAS, women can obtain more information about possible allergy issues, risk factors, and benefits by contacting the Student Health Center or the Health Department or going to http://www.immunize.org/vis/hpv.pdf.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Missouri Students Association Senate that the health of all students is an issue of utmost importance and developments that promote a higher standard of well-being among any student population should be supported and promulgated both on campus and in the community.

Graduate School Wants to Know What You Think

On behalf of the Graduate School, GPC is collecting information on continuous enrollment, once one is ABD.  Currently, the registrar enrolls students; however, it has been suggested that students enroll themselves in their dissertation hours.  Please discuss this with your department and email Sarah Symonds (sesrm8) with your department’s consensus.

Open Forum

My fellow Executive Members and myself try to keep our ears to the ground, looking for the issues that you need us to fight for.  Unfortunately, we don’t always catch everything.

Drop us a comment and let us know what is up.  Let us be your voice.

Bring Back Reactor! Petition

The details of the petition:

By signing this petition, I agree that Reactor Field should be available for students to use on football game days.

We the undersigned do respectfully oppose the closing of Reactor Field for student use during the football season beginning in the 2009-2010 academic year. We cite the lack of a presentation of an acceptable alternative for student use that is safe and cost-effective. We have concerns that this closing will not eliminate the fan behavior issues, but rather threatens to both exacerbate them and displace student football fans yet again in a way reminiscent of the closing of Frat Pit in Fall 2007. We object to this conclusion being reached without representation from our elected student government taking part in the research, planning, or decision-making stages and further object to the safety concerns we believe this closing will cause.

We respectfully request that action be taken on this issue to establish space where students may spend football game days in lieu of Reactor Field, should the administration decide that Reactor Field not be restored to student access.

Go HERE to sign!

Novel H1N1 Influenza at Mizzou

This is direct from the Student Letter sent by email from the Chancellor to all students.

To MU Students

Novel H1N1 influenza (“swine flu”) is present at MU. The severity appears to be relatively mild, comparable to the seasonal influenza that occurs every winter, and medical intervention is usually not necessary. Following the recommendations of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, MU is no longer testing for novel H1N1 influenza.

Below are guidelines to help you know what to do if you become ill and to help the MU medical community respond to the influenza outbreak in an efficient and safe manner.

If you experience symptoms that you suspect may be novel H1N1 influenza (fever, cough, muscle aches), take the following steps:

* Minimize contact with other students. Stay in your residence hall room, Greek house or apartment. DO NOT GO TO CLASS.
* Call the Student Health Center (882-7481) or your personal physician. Do NOT go to the Student Health Center, or your personal physician’s office, without CALLING FIRST. This enables timely and efficient care to be provided to those in need and minimizes the spread of influenza to others. If you have extremely severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, you may need treatment at Urgent Care or the Emergency Center.
* The typical illness lasts 5-7 days. Fever and body aches should be managed by taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If symptoms worsen, contact the Student Health Center or your personal physician. As always, if you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.
* If you have a chronic medical condition, you may be at risk for complications from influenza and should contact the Student Health Center or your personal physician for recommendations. These problems include lung conditions like asthma, heart problems, kidney, liver or blooddisorders (including sickle cell disease), diabetes and other metabolic disorders, immune suppression caused by medications or HIV, pregnancy, and medical conditions that may require long-term aspirin therapy.
* You may return to class or work when your temperature has been less than 100 degrees for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication.
* Email your professors to notify them that you will be missing class due to illness.

More information, including steps you can take to prevent the spread of influenza, can be found at these Web sites: MU Alert and Flu.gov.

Brady J. Deaton
Chancellor

August 31, 2009

The frequently asked questions can be found here.

The governmental website on the pandemic flu can be found here.

MU Alert is located here and can be checked for the most recent information.

Ask Dr. C, Mizzou’s flu expert. His website also has FAQs about the flu.

Transferring Email from Webmail to Outlook Live

Mizzou is in the process of changing their email provider from Webmail to Outlook Live.  For continuing students, this means following a few steps online in order to switch over easily.  Reportedly there are 5,000 students whom have yet to transfer their accounts.  Don’t be one of these students!!  The switch is mandatory, and the deadline to transfer voluntarily will be sometime in October.   If your account has not changed by the deadline, you may lose all old emails, and may lose temporary access to your account.  So change today!  The entire process should take less than a half-hour.

Follow this link to find the 11-step directions to change over your account today!

Income-Based Repayment program

The 2007 College Cost Reduction and Access Act program Income-Based Repayment (IBR) takes effect this month.

“This program, in conjunction with a lower interest rate on subsidized – or need-based – student loans and an increase in the Pell Grant scholarship, will help make college more affordable and help alleviate devastating student loan burdens for millions of students, recent graduates and other borrowers.. Under IBR, borrowers have a portion of their income protected from loan repayment (up to 150% of the poverty level for their family size) which means graduates can afford to take jobs at lower salaries.    Borrowers are required to pay no more than 15% of any income above that threshold.”

You can find more information here.