Students and workers gathered outside the Cowell Student Health Center on the UC Santa Cruz campus on February 13th in response to news that the UC system is planning to "exploit an Obamacare loophole" and cap student insurance coverage. The proposed plan would also increase Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) fees by 25% ($600). Rally organizers called the changes "financial mismanagement" on the part of UC administrators.
Organizers of the rally handed out crutches, walkers, and surgical masks to members of the crowd to be used as props to symbolize the effects on student health the proposals would have.
Sporadically throughout the rally, demonstrators moved slowly through the McLaughlin Drive crosswalk in front of the health center, partly to pantomime a deteriorating metaphoric health, and partly to slow vehicular traffic as a statement to the university powers that be. Traffic was never delayed for more than a minute or so, and demonstrators received a significant amount of positive feedback from bus and service vehicle drivers.
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