University Health Fee May Rise $5 Next Year

Inflation will hit another part of the term bill next year. According to Dana L. Farnsworth, Director of the University Health Services, the $68 student health fee "will probably rise $5."

Farnsworth pointed out, however, that the new facilities opening next September will result in certain economies. The increase will be kept to the $5 level by an extension of medical care to employees and faculty members; with a greater number of people participating costs can still remain relatively low.

Few Waive Insurance

Few students--less than three per cent of the number registered--have waived the $20 insurance fee included in the medical bill. The insurance benefits can be waived within two weeks of registration if students show adequate coverage under an outside plan, such as Blue Cross.

Farnsworth criticized the "false economy" by which many undergraduates avoid the $20 fee. "The less a student has, the less he can afford to pass up insurance," he stated.

The University Health Services plan, underwritten by Aetna Insurance Company, provides up to $5,000 for illness or injury (except for mental illness or tuberculosis). Farnsworth deemed the plan "far and away the least expensive student health plan of which I know." The reason for the low cost, he stated, was the "good health record" students have attained in recent years.

Although the construction of the new Health Center has fallen somewhat behind schedule, Farnsworth expected the $6 million facility to open in September. The high water table on the Mt. Auburn St. site posed foundation problems, which have now been solved. Workmen have poured concrete for the two basements, and are now working on the first of ten stories.

The part currently under construction is only the first third of the H-shaped structure. Work on the Massachusetts Ave. side will not start for at least two or three more years, in all probability, he said.

The building itself does not follow the University "tradition" of brick exterior, Its pebble-textured gray surface includes many windows both transparent and opaque.