Sample Ballot
 
The following has been proposed by the Health Fee Advisory Committee:
 
Safeguard Student Health Care Referendum
 
To protect and improve student access to high quality, on-campus medical and mental health care, do you approve a mandatory fee to support Berkeley's student health and counseling services?
 
The fee will exclusively support student health and counseling programs and services available to all registered Berkeley students, even those who do not enroll in the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP).
 
The fee is intended to supplement but not supplant the portion of UC Berkeley’s Registration Fee income currently allocated to University Health Services, Tang Center.
 
As the cost of health care continues to rise, this fee will ensure that Berkeley students have direct access to affordable, reliable, quality health care on campus.
 
The fee is subject to the following costs and conditions:
 

— Collection of the fee will begin in Fall 2005 and will be assessed as a $43 charge each Fall and Spring semester and as a $31 charge for students registered in Summer Sessions. The fee is subject to annual adjustment, within the limits described below. — An independent student advisory committee will work with campus health officials to ensure that fee money is allocated to meet students’ changing health care needs, in the areas of urgent care, basic medical care, mental health care, specialty medicine, lab and pharmacy services, and preventive health education. — By February of each year, the independent student health advisory committee will recommend to campus health officials any increase or decrease in the fee rate. Increases in any one year may not exceed health care inflation rates for physician and clinical services published annually by the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (currently 5-7% per year). — In accord with campus policy, one-third of fee revenues will be returned to financial aid, to help offset the cost of this fee for the neediest students who are eligible for campus-based financial aid.