Linn Jorgensen, Associate Dean, University Life, (second row standing, all the way to the left); Rose Pascarell, Vice President, University Life,(second row standing, fifth from right) and Lori Cohen Scher, Assistant Dean, University Life (second row standing, fourth from right) were among those who attended a ceremony Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 hosted by first lady Michelle Obama for colleges and universities that completed the White House Healthy Campus initiative. White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson.
George Mason University is one of a few hundred colleges in the nation to earn the White House Healthy Campus designation and was one of about 60 honored in Washington, D.C., by first lady Michelle Obama.
George Mason received the designation after meeting the criteria of the Healthy Campus Challenge, which included getting the word out to students about the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which began on Dec. 2, 2016, said Linn Jorgenson, assistant dean of students.
“It’s an opportunity to educate our students on the options they have,” she said. “We want our students to be well-informed.”
The White House provided suggestions on what kinds of activities Mason faculty, staff and students could undertake to inform others about open enrollment, said Kerry Bolognese, director of federal government relations at Mason.
Emails were sent to some 34,000 recipients about open enrollment. Teams placed banners around campus, held educational forums and published an article in the Fourth Estate, Mason’s student newspaper, Jorgenson said.
Mason decided to get involved in the awareness campaign after the White House, knowing of Mason President Ángel Cabrera’s strong interest in ensuring every student has health insurance coverage, contacted the university, Bolognese explained. Mason does not know which students have health coverage, he said, so educating them about their options is vital.
“It was imperative to ensure that students knew that the [Affordable Care Act] was available and signing up has become much easier. By encouraging more students and other young people to sign up, it will bring down the cost of insurance for everyone,” Bolognese said.
On Jan. 13, Jorgenson, along with Rose Pascarell, Mason’s vice president of University Life, and Lori Cohen Scher, assistant dean of University Life, traveled to the White House to be recognized for their work along with representatives from more than 60 colleges.