On Sunday morning The Cornell Review’s editor-in-chief was interviewed on Fox & Friends on the Fox News Channel. It was the culmination of a week of reporting (story 1, story 2, story 3) and contacting various news organizations in order to get this story national. We would like to thank Legal Insurrection, Campus Reform, The CollegeFix, and of course Fox News for helping make this happen.
Though the segment was short, we were able to communicate some of the most important aspects of Cornell’s student health fee, including its redistributionist nature, how it passes more costs unto students, and how it is also an administrative bailout.
There are two clarifications we wish to make:
1) The $350 is not an “opt-out” fee as was displayed before the interview began. By paying the fee you’re not opting out of anything. The fee is a penalty for not purchasing Cornell’s Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), regardless of your specific circumstances. If you have private health insurance (from any source), you either purchase SHIP (>$2300) or pay the $350. So, if anything, the $350 is an opt-in fee—that is, you cannot attend Cornell without paying the fee.
2) The Cornell Review did not film the video that was aired before and during the interview segment. Students affiliated with the protest organizers shot that footage and posted it online. The Cornell Review does have its own footage.
Also, we would like to clarify that no one in The Cornell Review ever made the argument that Obamacare is directly responsible for Cornell’s student health fee. While the director of Gannett did cite rising healthcare costs as one reason for the fee—and it is true Obamacare has contributed and will continue to contribute to rising healthcare costs—for all we at the Review know, Obamacare is not directly responsible for the fee. The argument we have made is that the principle underlying both Obamacare and the fee+SHIP arrangement at Cornell are nearly identical: both call for redistributing wealth to subsidize healthcare costs “for the common good.”
After Fox News published an article about the health fee, and especially after the interview, the conservative sphere on Twitter completely hijacked #FighttheFee, turning the rallying cry of Cornell students into a pulpit from which to harshly criticize the hypocrisy of most Cornell students–those who vote one way and protest against the very ideas they vote for.
