Submission: Students can make a difference, represent their school by voting and doing field work

By Rachel Hornstein

A year ago, I thought I’d be spending this fall as a second-year masters student at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Yet three weeks into this quarter, I find myself nowhere near sunny Westwood. In fact, I just saw hail for the first time outside my apartment in downtown Chicago. Honestly, I couldn’t be happier.

I am working for a great boss and I feel totally committed to the work I am doing. My job? I am working at the Obama for America headquarters helping to re-elect President Barack Obama. What started as a summer internship has blossomed into one of the most wonderful experiences in my life. As I walk to work each day, I am constantly mindful that I not only want to see a great president re-elected, but, as the only Bruin on my team, I want to positively represent my faculty and the entire UCLA community.

An integral part of UCLA’s Public Health master’s program is to spend the summer between your first and second year working in the field. In theory, it’s supposed to provide real world experience to reinforce more didactic classroom work. In practice, they couldn’t be more right. For my internship, I applied to work for the Health Policy Team of the Obama re-election campaign. I was thrilled when I was selected and I joined the campaign full-time in June 2012.

My 10-week internship officially ended in August, but I was honored when the associate policy director asked me to take a leave of absence and remain with the campaign through the election. They didn’t have to ask me twice.

Working for the campaign is electric. It is truly a team effort with hundreds of volunteers and professionals working to effectively communicate President Obama’s values, accomplishments and vision for the country.

My own work centers around health policy. I report to an amazing supervisor and help to create briefing memos, answer various organizations’ health policy questions, research health-related topics and update a health care blog.

During my first year as a graduate student, I was exposed to concepts that I currently use on a daily basis. These include working successfully in teams, improving my listening and communication skills, using statistics accurately and learning to write clearly and precisely. It is wonderful to work with people from all over the United States and it is personally satisfying to be part of this very important election effort.

As we head into the final month of the campaign, the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, remains such a hugely important issue for our nation, with its impact on students no less great. Prior to its passage in 2010, tens of millions of Americans were uninsured, with young adults being the age group most likely to go without coverage. Health care costs were growing at an unsustainable rate and our delivery system wrongly rewarded quantity of care over quality of care.

Perhaps most distressing, insurance companies could limit health care coverage when some very ill patients needed it most. That’s why President Obama created a broad coalition of business leaders, hospitals, insurance companies and even the American Medical Association to pass this historic healthcare law.

Even though the entire law will be phased in over the years, people across the country, including UCLA students, are enjoying significant benefits already. More than 100 million people have seen a lifetime cap on their coverage lifted, young Americans can remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26, and there are new limits on insurance companies’ overhead and profits.

Soon, 30 million people will gain health care coverage.
Obamacare also focuses on improving overall health care quality so that the care we do receive is effective, safe and patient-centered. Overall, I have no doubt that five, 10 and even 20 years from now we students will look back and readily acknowledge the positive impact that Obamacare has provided for our nation.

I truly enjoy being a team member that is working hard to re-elect the president and move the country forward. I continue to admire and share the vision of President Obama, and, as he said at the Democratic National Convention, we are all in this together.

I am also appreciative of UCLA and especially the Fielding School of Public Health for encouraging me to realize that we as students can truly make a difference in improving our nation and our world. Perhaps most importantly, I have personally experienced what a great gift we all enjoy by living in this free and democratic nation. All of us, students, faculty, staff, family and friends have an opportunity to make a real difference and be an active and positive catalyst for change.

If you haven’t done so already, please take the time and register to vote at GottaRegister.com ““ and exercise this wonderful right on Nov. 6. It is really that important.

Rachel Hornstein is a second-year master’s student at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a policy adviser at the Obama for America National Campaign Headquarters.