Wisconsin Students Public Interest Research Group hosted a health-care fair Thursday to celebrate the recent health-care reform bill passed by U.S. House of Representatives and to further educate students on the issue.
U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, who spoke at the event, said the new bill would positively impact students in Madison and around the country.
She said the bill would create a supermarket of insurance plans so that people can shop around for the best option for health-care coverage.
""I hope at the end of the day … that one of the many choices in the insurance industry is a strong publicly sponsored health-insurance option,"" Baldwin said.
Dr. Sarah Van Orman, executive director of University Health Services, who also spoke at the fair, said many people think health insurance does not affect college students because of misperceptions that all students are ""young, healthy, well-covered and wealthy.""
However, Van Orman said about 20 percent of college students are uninsured and another 20-30 percent are under-insured.
""I am excited about the significant expansion in access that will occur if we pass this bill, but as you heard, while there was a great milestone achieved on Saturday night, there are impediments that stand in front,"" Baldwin said. ""Among them, some amendments have been attached to the bill that are unacceptable and needed to be stripped before we review the bill for final passage.""
Scott Thompson, chair of WISPIRG UW-Madison chapter, said the fair was held to continue working toward passing the bill in the Senate as well.
He said he encourages all students to get involved, because they will play a major role in this issue in the future.
""We kind of felt that the students were kind of left out of the discussion … and the focus hasn't been on the people who are going to be leading the country in the future,"" Thompson said. ""We kind of are trying to do everything we can to bring the debate back to campus and make sure that students' voices are being heard on issues that are super important like health care.""
The College Democrats of Madison also attended the event to show their support for health-care reform.
Molly Rivera, chair of College Democrats, said she hopes students begin to realize that ultimately these health-care reforms will affect them.
""Health care isn't just a Democratic issue, it isn't just a political issue, but it's a personal issue,"" she said.
