The cost of a health plan with the Carleton University Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) will be increasing by $70 from $298 to $368 for the upcoming Sept. 1-Aug. 31 year.
The price hike is the result of a referendum that took place alongside general elections voting on Mar. 22 and 23, where the majority of students voted in favour of a price increase in order to maintain their current benefit plan. In order for the referendum to be successful, 10 per cent of the GSA’s membership needed to vote, regardless of whether they voted for or against.
Students also had the option of voting against the price increase, which would have resulted in a significant reduction to benefits currently offered under the plan.
“Our health plan has been so successful, and so used, that our premium no longer matched our demand,” said Roxana Barcelo-Singh, vice-president (finance) of the GSA.
“The insurance company [Green Shield Canada] was asking for more money in order to be able to continue providing the same benefits,” she said.
The plan includes coverage for matters such as prescription drug claims, vision claims, travel insurance, and wisdom teeth extractions.
Students also have the option to opt-out of one or both sections of the GSA’s health plan and be refunded the plan cost in the form of a credit to their student accounts if they already have comparable coverage. During the 2015-16 school year, students had until Oct. 2 to opt out of the plan.
According to the GSA website, all full-time students registered in the fall term, including international students, are automatically covered by the plan for the entire Sept. 1-Aug. 31 plan year. Under the plan, students can use their Carleton ID card at participating pharmacies and dentists’ offices across Canada to pay only the deductible for their prescription or dental service.
In comparison, the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) health plan operates in much the same way, but costs students $158.
CUSA president Fahd Alhattab said the plans are almost identical.
“The plans are 90 per cent the same. So why is theirs more?” Alhattab said.
“We haven’t had any [complaints from students] regarding the increase in price,” Barcelo-Singh said. “Most of the issues that we end up having is with the fact that some people do not know about the opt-out period. It’s very hard to find that out, because university does not provide us with enough sources in order to target our membership.”
“The plan that we have right now meets all of the demand that we have right now,” Barcelo-Singh added. “It’s the right plan, according to graduate students.”
If the health plan premium costs under Green Shield Canada continue to increase, Barcelo-Singh said “we acknowledge that we all already pay very high tuition fees, and that we’re students, so we would start looking at other companies and other plan options.”
Though she isn’t pleased with the increase in cost, graduate student Alaina Thompson admitted she is willing to pay in order to keep the plan.
“I see it as the lesser of two evils, in a way,” Thompson said. “An increase in price sucks, but it’s better than having no health plan at all.”
“The university is already gouging us for tuition fees,” Thompson added. “What’s 70 more dollars at the end of the day?”
