{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/mu-to-subsidize-graduate-student-health-insurance-indefinitely-", "MU to subsidize graduate student health insurance indefinitely", "2016-10-22", "2016", "2016-10", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "MU to subsidize graduate student health insurance indefinitely  \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Saturday, October 22, 2016\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Alan Burdziak\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            Three federal departments on Friday indefinitely extended the ability for colleges and universities in the United States to continue providing the same health insurance subsidies for graduate student assistants without facing a penalty from the Internal Revenue Service.\r\nThe announcement by the departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services will allow the University of Missouri to avoid changing health insurance subsidies it provides graduate assistants after Jan. 1.\r\nU.S. Sen Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., released a statement lauding the Obama Administration\u2019s move but added she still is pushing for a permanent fix to the issue.\r\n\u201cMizzou\u2019s hardworking teaching assistants had been left in limbo about whether they\u2019d be able to access the affordable, quality health insurance they\u2019d relied on,\u201d McCaskill, an MU alumna, said in the statement. \u201cSo this decision is great news for both the school and its graduate students \u2014 providing more certainty for the school year and beyond, and I\u2019ll continue working to make that certainty permanent.\u201d\r\nMU had cut off the health insurance subsidies to graduate assistants in August 2015, giving them 24 hours of notice before the subsidies were set to expire, because of an IRS interpretation of the Affordable Care Act that would have fined institutions of higher education that kept providing the benefits. Graduate students protested at MU shortly after then-Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin said the subsidies would expire. MU officials quickly reversed course and put together a task force to determine how to continue the subsidies while complying with IRS rules.\r\nIn February, the three federal departments delayed the penalties for plans issued before Jan. 1, 2017. The announcement Friday said \u201cpending further guidance, the departments consider it appropriate to further extend enforcement relief.\u201d Interim MU Chancellor Hank Foley said in January the university would provide its current subsidies for graduate assistants for at least another year. At the time, he said in a letter, major research universities across the United States were lobbying Congress to address the IRS ruling.\r\nInsurance subsidies have been one of several issues of concern to graduate assistants as they also strive to be recognized as university employees and for the right to unionize.\r\nThe Coalition of Graduate Workers, a group MU graduate assistants formed last year, sued the university in Boone County Circuit Court in May seeking legal recognition as the union for about 2,600 assistants. Graduate assistants held an election in April in which 84 percent voted to accept the coalition as their bargaining agent. A motion hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for Nov. 21.\r\nFoley did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday. Christian Basi, an MU spokesman, emailed a statement to the Tribune.\r\n\u201cThe senator\u2019s work to secure the initial extension from the Treasury department, and now the secondary extension, has allowed the university the time and ability to work toward identifying a permanent quality, affordable, health coverage solution for our graduate students looking forward,\u201d the statement said.\r\nJoseph Moore, a spokesman for the coalition, called the extension \u201ca victory for graduate student activism at the federal level.\u201d However, he said the coalition would rather have the ability to negotiate a guaranteed contract with MU.\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s an indefinite extension, but we still don\u2019t know how long that\u2019s going to be, so there\u2019s still an air of uncertainty around it,\u201d Moore said.\r\nThe University of Missouri System does not recognize graduate assistants as employees. Assistants usually receive a stipend, health insurance subsidy and tuition waiver in exchange for their work.\r\nThe coalition also is seeking increased pay for graduate assistants, guaranteed tuition waivers, more university housing and on-campus childcare. Foley announced increased stipends last year, bringing the minimum for doctoral students to $15,000 for the current school year and $18,000 for the 2017-18 school year. In the 2015-16 school year, the minimum was $12,000.\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/mu-to-subsidize-graduate-student-health-insurance-indefinitely-"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.956305768340826, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}