Health care services administered by the province are often unable to meet the all health needs of students, making health plans offered by student unions increasingly popular.
The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU), a member of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), has offered U of M students a health and dental plan since January 2002, through the federation’s National Student Health Network. The federation is able to offer a set of benefits through a campus health plan by negotiating with Green Shield, Canada’s only non-profit national insurance provider.
The plan, which includes various services, was designed by students to cover expenses that are excluded from provincial coverage.
Services offered include prescription drugs, ambulance and vision coverage, as well as the option of dental care.
Not unlike most universities across Canada, full-time undergraduate and graduate students are signed onto the plan and assessed the fees by virtue of being students at the university. The term of coverage lasts 12 months, from Sept. 1, 2010 to Aug. 31, 2011.
In comparison to the University of Winnipeg, UMSU president Heather Laube said that although the plans are similar, there remain some major differences. For example, while the U of W places a cap on the amount of prescription drug claims that a student can make, UMSU does not.
Currently, winter term premium fees for the health care plan come to a total of $171.51,including health, ambulance and dental fees. Alone, health and ambulance fees amount to $109.95.
Laube recognized that since the health plan has a large number of participants, it is often difficult to ensure everyone’s requests are met.
“UMSU has continually made improvements to our plan and will continue to ask for feedback from students as to how the plan works for them,” she said.
The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) heath and dental plan coordinator,Dan Gillespie, agrees that although he pays close attention to student feedback, meeting individual needs can often prove a difficult task.
“The idea of creating these plans is to design a basic set of benefits that is going to be useful to the majority of your members,” he said.
Gillespie noted that additional services imply increasing the fees collected from
students, which can only be done to a certain percentage without asking for a referendum. Currently, their combined health and dental fees amount to $223.40, which is automatic unless a student chooses to opt-out.
Gillespie said that the plan has definitely evolved over time to include a variety of benefits, as it was originally introduced as an extremely limited drug plan. He said that in addition to student feedback, the health plan has to respond to changes made in the provincial plan as well. For example, when Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP) delisted eye exams, the student plan introduced an allowance for eye exams.
UTSU is also a member of CFS, and use the National Student Health Network as
their consultant.
“The real goal of the National Student Health Network as a service is to simply advise student unions on best practices and how to set up health plans,” said Gillespie.
Gillespie said that the health plan is an important service for a student union to offer and one that students value. He notes that although the opt-out option is promoted, they continue to have over 80 per cent of their members enrolled in the health plan.
The StudentCare Networks, the largest providers of student health plans in Canada, work on behalf of student associations to negotiate a health plan, acting as a liaison with an insurance company. According to their website, their service saves members across Canada millions of dollars in medical costs each year and represents over 440,000 students across Canada.
Director of the StudentCare Network for Pacific and Western, Kristin Foster, said that helping student unions in post-secondary institutions manage their health plans is the sole focus of the business, which was founded in 1996 by a group of students at McGill.
“The core model of the company was that it would be easier for students to understand insurance than it would ever be for insurance brokers to come in and understand the student model,” she said.
“It really started with student unions deciding that everyone should have a minimum level of access to healthcare,” she continued.
The company works with over 53 student associations across Canada.
Undergraduate student health plans are very common, with the majority of medium to large institutions in Canada offering one to their members through various companies and brokers, said Foster.
Currently, provincial health plans only cover core services, which often don’t include regular needs of students such as physiotherapy outside of the hospital and dental services.
