Stanford Dependent Healthcare Emergency Fund
Donation protected
This Giving Tuesday and holiday season, Stanford Solidarity Network (SSN) is raising money for Graduate Student Dependent Healthcare.
Over the past six years, Stanford University has raised the rates of dependent health care by 80%. In 2013-2014 a graduate student with two children and a spouse would have paid $494 a month to insure their dependents; in 2019-2020 they are paying $893 a month. For the past two years, Stanford’s student health insurance administrators have threatened to cut the dependent healthcare program entirely, citing rising insurance costs. Administration officials claim costs are rising because enrollment is decreasing, but by increasing costs without increasing stipends, they are pushing families off the plan and creating what the insurance industry calls a “death spiral.”
Over the past few years years, SSN has tried to work with administrators to come up with a long term solution to rising dependent healthcare costs. As one of the most respected institutions of higher learning in the world, Stanford must serve as a leader in confronting issues such as this one that contribute to gender-based and non-citizen inequity. And yet, each year they have responded in a year by year manner and plans have continued to rise.
Now, we are calling on the University to make dependent health care guaranteed in perpetuity and free for all graduate students’ dependent children and for all spouses who are unable to work in the U.S. and receive health care from an employer (e.g. spouses on F-2 and other restricted visas).
Meanwhile, while the administration bides their time, families are struggling. Help us this Giving Tuesday and holiday season to ensure that Stanford families are healthy. We are looking to raise 200,000 dollars, which is the total amount that Stanford students pay each month in premiums to insure the health of their dependents. This will allow graduate students and their dependents to breathe a little easier this holiday season, while the administration waits to respond on this pressing matter. We will distribute all funds raised to students with families who are struggling to make ends meet. We may also use the money towards an endowment for dependent healthcare.
Part of the point of this campaign is to raise awareness around this issue.
On November 8 Stanford University graduate students, parents, and children rallied in front of the office of the Vice Provost of Graduate Education to demand affordable healthcare for the children and spouses of all graduate students at Stanford. Telling their stories in front of the Stanford administration officials, the graduate students affixed adhesive bandages to a large banner: “1000 BAND-AIDS FOR 1000 SIGNATURES—DEPENDENT HEALTH CARE NEEDS MORE THAN A BAND-AID SOLUTION.”
For more information on SSN and the Dependent Healthcare Campaign, please visit: our homepage , coverage of our action, or this op-ed .
Over the past six years, Stanford University has raised the rates of dependent health care by 80%. In 2013-2014 a graduate student with two children and a spouse would have paid $494 a month to insure their dependents; in 2019-2020 they are paying $893 a month. For the past two years, Stanford’s student health insurance administrators have threatened to cut the dependent healthcare program entirely, citing rising insurance costs. Administration officials claim costs are rising because enrollment is decreasing, but by increasing costs without increasing stipends, they are pushing families off the plan and creating what the insurance industry calls a “death spiral.”
Over the past few years years, SSN has tried to work with administrators to come up with a long term solution to rising dependent healthcare costs. As one of the most respected institutions of higher learning in the world, Stanford must serve as a leader in confronting issues such as this one that contribute to gender-based and non-citizen inequity. And yet, each year they have responded in a year by year manner and plans have continued to rise.
Now, we are calling on the University to make dependent health care guaranteed in perpetuity and free for all graduate students’ dependent children and for all spouses who are unable to work in the U.S. and receive health care from an employer (e.g. spouses on F-2 and other restricted visas).
Meanwhile, while the administration bides their time, families are struggling. Help us this Giving Tuesday and holiday season to ensure that Stanford families are healthy. We are looking to raise 200,000 dollars, which is the total amount that Stanford students pay each month in premiums to insure the health of their dependents. This will allow graduate students and their dependents to breathe a little easier this holiday season, while the administration waits to respond on this pressing matter. We will distribute all funds raised to students with families who are struggling to make ends meet. We may also use the money towards an endowment for dependent healthcare.
Part of the point of this campaign is to raise awareness around this issue.
On November 8 Stanford University graduate students, parents, and children rallied in front of the office of the Vice Provost of Graduate Education to demand affordable healthcare for the children and spouses of all graduate students at Stanford. Telling their stories in front of the Stanford administration officials, the graduate students affixed adhesive bandages to a large banner: “1000 BAND-AIDS FOR 1000 SIGNATURES—DEPENDENT HEALTH CARE NEEDS MORE THAN A BAND-AID SOLUTION.”
For more information on SSN and the Dependent Healthcare Campaign, please visit: our homepage , coverage of our action, or this op-ed .
Organizer and beneficiary
Stanford Solidarity Network
Organizer
Stanford, CA
Liqi Wang
Beneficiary
