Grads Deserve Quality Healthcare

Louisiana State University, William F. Tate IV

LSU is failing to provide its graduate workers with adequate healthcare. The cost of the Gallagher Student Health plan without dependents can amount to 33% of a graduate workers’ monthly pay after the subtraction of fees. International graduate workers are more deeply affected by this financial burden because they are required to buy a health plan to maintain their visa status. This burden forces international graduate workers to seek cheap, bare minimum plans outside of LSU. Because domestic graduate workers have the option to forgo insurance through Gallagher, many decide to forgo insurance, and therefore access to affordable healthcare, altogether. The University of Michigan and the University of Florida, through strong union organization among graduate workers, is able to not only offer comparable monthly pay for graduate workers but are able to provide considerably cheaper and better health insurance; even the University of Mississippi, another southern flagship university, subsidizes their graduate workers’ healthcare plans.

By only offering graduate workers student health insurance plans designed for healthy, 18-year-old undergraduate students (rather than adults with complex mental and physical health needs, as well as families, of our own) LSU continues to deny its international and domestic graduate workers healthcare adequate for us to do our jobs. Only by offering quality health insurance and healthcare opportunities can LSU support its international and domestic graduate workers as workers, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. This absence of a medical safety net for graduate workers is prohibitive for prospective high-caliber students with dependents as well as existing medical needs.


To: Louisiana State University, William F. Tate IV
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned, call on LSU to ensure affordable healthcare for all its graduate workers by:
-Including domestic and international graduate workers and their dependents on the LSU First faculty/staff health plan
- Subsidizing the monthly cost of LSU First for domestic and international graduate workers such that mental and physical healthcare costs don’t exceed 2% of a worker’s post-fee pay
- Providing free, personalized, and on-demand mental healthcare for all graduate workers and students, without prejudice, including lack of insurance
- Hiring designated staff members to help domestic and international graduate workers navigate choosing insurance plans, finding healthcare providers, and paying medical bills

Only by offering quality health insurance and healthcare opportunities can LSU adequately support its international and domestic graduate workers, especially in the wake of a global pandemic.