Dear all,
Your signature is a very strong support for our actions (please read below for details about the health insurance issue and what we have done and are going to do) and also a way to protect YOUR benefits. Please sign up the sheet and turn it in ASAP before we meet with the President Whitmore late this week or next week.
We need your signatures now. Please download this file, "A Letter of Support for the Re-evaluation of Health Insurance Policy for International Students" and return the paper with your signatures to one of following contacts by this Friday - 11th of August. Thanks for your cooperation.
On Campus:
Off Campus:
The reason why we need your signatures to support our
actions against the change in student health insurance policy is very simple. We
need all the strength of international students to protect our own benefits. As
we know, the previous health insurance programs you have from the companies in
the market such as United Chinese Plan is no longer acceptable for registration
in the fall. It appears that all international students are
forced to purchase the employees' health insurance plan (you can if you work as
a RA or TA) or UniCare plan, which has less comparable benefits than most health
insurance plans we have. But the prices for the employees' plan or UniCare plan
are almost double the price than that we have at hand. The brochures from
UniCare and United Chinese Plan as a comparison are attached here for your
reference.
| Insurance | Unicare | Firstcare (TA or RA) |
United Chinese Plan (New York Insurance) |
| Max. coverage | $100,000 | unlimited | $250,000 |
| Deductible | $250 per year | Copay $ 30 or 40 dollars per visit |
$180 per year |
| Premium | $1190 per year | $ 1896.24 | Basic
$476 (under 30), $506 (over 30) Premium $527 (under 30), $563 (over 30) |
WHAT WE DID
We have gone through a painful process to argue with the administrative authorities. However no satisfied and clear answer is obtained yet.
2006 Spring semester If you had United Chinese Plan health insurance, you could get a waiver of purchasing the Unicare health insurance.
2006-5-20 Email from Office of International Affairs (OIA) to everyone's TTU mailbox about the mandatory health insurance changes.
2006-6-19 On behalf of the Chinese students and scholars, ACSSL president Cixin He emailed to Sharon Hale, OIA student counselor, and requested to reinstate the same policy as that of last semester.
2006-6-21 Sharon Hale delivered Cixin's email to the insurance committee meeting. The insurance committee which at least included Dr. Bob Crosier, Evelyn McPherson, Jan Childress, Dr. Michael Shanrock, Ambassador Nagy, Steven Bryant, and Judith Baxter-Aung (the representative for the insurance company Unicare). They rejected Cixin's appeal.
2006-6-22 Summer 2006 International Line Newsletter from OIA to everyone's TTU mailbox about the mandatory health insurance changes.
2006-7-1 to 7-20 Several individuals contacted Bob Crosier (director of International Student & Scholar Service in OIA) about the changes in health insurance policy.
2006-7-21 First meeting with representatives from different student organizations in TTU.
2006-7-26 More than 10 representatives from different international student organizations had a meeting with Dr. John Borrelli (Dean of the Graduate School).
2006-7-31 Email delivered by Lora Lopez to everyone's TTU mailbox as official reply from John Borrelli (Dean of the Graduate School) to the requests raised by representatives from different international student organizations in the meeting on July 26th, 2006 (The requests were just the same as the attached WORD file Pu-Hui sent to you guys).
2006-7-31 Second meeting of representatives from different international student organizations coordinated the next steps we would take.
2006-8-1 to 8-4 Cixin He and several other Indian students talked with Tibor P. Nagy, Jr. (Ambassador of OIA, vice Provost for International Affairs) about the change in health insurance policy.
2006-8-1 to 8-4 Pam Roberson (Executive Administrative Associate to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs) denied our request to meet with William M. Marcy (Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs).
2006-8-6 Third meeting of representatives from different international student organizations together with Dr. Lewis I. Held, Dr. Michael San Francisco, Dr. Lou Densmore and Dr. Randall Jeter, four professors from Biology Department discussed the current situation and future plans.
2006-8-6 Dr. Lewis Held (associate Professor of Biology department) Cixin He, Qingjun Luo, and one Indian student went to meet with Dr. Dean O. Smith, Vice President for Research.
WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO
Meet with Dr. Jon Whitmore, President of TTU to express our opinions with all your signatures as support.
If all these do not work at all finally, we would uncover this story to the public by the Daily Toreador and the Lubbock Avalanche Journal with further actions being considered.
CONCLUSION
Your signature is a very strong support for our actions and also a way to protect your benefits. Please sign up the sheet and turn it in ASAP before we meet with the President Whitmore late this week or next week.
Thank you so much for your patient to read this long email!
Best,
Qingjun Luo & Cixin He
Vice President & President
ACSSL
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