A new health care plan brought before the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) by the Health and Dental Plan Review Committee passed overwhelmingly with 17 votes in favour, six in abstention, and two against in an emergency council meeting April 6.
The association saw over $1,690,000 in claims in the last year with more than 16,000 students enrolled in the program, according to Del Pereira, Studentcare account manager for CUSA. The fee for each member of the undergraduate student body was $158 for all semesters.
The new package will see an increase of $34.77 to a total cost of $192.77. Currently, the health and dental plan is provided by Studentcare for all full-time students and members of CUSA, though it is possible to opt out.
This new plan will involve the hiring of a psychologist, clinical counsellor or Masters of Social Work practitioner and will provide coverage for $35 per visit, up to $300 per year. Also included is an automatic inclusion into an updated travel insurance policy. It would insure for 120 days per trip up to $5,000,000 per incident, designed with students studying abroad in mind.
Pereira was asked by the executive council to review their plan and find ways to optimize the coverage for students. He made recommendations to CUSA concerning the areas of paramedical insurance, mental health services, dental cost information and the changes to travel insurance.
“I was brought in to ensure the best value for students, and I believe these recommendations reflect that,” Pereira said.
A highlighted change was the new paramedical program, which would no longer be on an accident-only basis so the services will have a more open-access.
While most councillors were openly supportive of the motion during the debate portion of the proposal, many had concerns about the way it was being presented to students.
Adam Carroll, a proxy for faculty of arts and social science councillor, brought up Council Bylaw four, which explains the executive function of a three-member Board of Trustees.
However, Article 4, sections 1 and 2 of the Constitution outline how the Electorate (Members of the Association, i.e. councillors) “shall be entitled to to vote in any election or referendum held by the Association.” The Constitution will always overrule the Bylaws, according to procedure.
The chair of council, Shawn Humphrey, admitted this was a gray area in the decision-making of referendum topics, but reminded councillors the motion today was to vote for or against approval of the recommendations to the Board of Trustees.
Michael Bueckert, president of the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), recommended the council should vote against this motion because of the undemocratic nature of its function.
“This Board [of Trustees] was created four years ago to illegally break the shared health care contract held between CUSA and the GSA,” he said.
The two student associations were embroiled in two lawsuits over the breaking-up of the health care plan when the CUSA board of trustees voted to exit, without the traditional student body referendum. The lawsuits were settled last year.
Other councillors expressed their doubts about not letting the student body decide as a whole. Craig Handy, vice-president (finance), gave assurances that a survey was conducted with 3000 randomly chosen students in order to meet their needs and, at the end of the day, did not believe students would be interested enough to learn about the benefits of the plan.
“When students read the referendum line that says, ‘Would you want to increase your insurance plan?’, most will not want to pay more money, even if they would save,” Handy said.
The new health and dental plan will begin in fall term and CUSA intends to work with Studentcare on campaigns to educate students on the increased costs, improved coverage and how to use their plan.
