Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the difference between CUSA “offered” travel insurance, whereby CUSA must pay for the plan out of its operating budget, and travel insurance is “covered” by CUSA, whereby students pay into the plan to receive insurance. CUSA offers travel insurance out of its operating budget upon request.
Carleton students are set to vote on three referendum questions March 25 and 26 including a question to formalize travel insurance coverage among other services offered by the health and dental plan.
Travel insurance is currently not covered under the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) health plan, which is provided to all students at a cost of $158 a year. It is “offered,” but CUSA must pay the cost of travel insurance through its operating budget.
The referendum question proposes an increase to the health plan fee, bringing the total to $186 a year. This is an increase of $14 per student per semester, or $28 a year.
If the question passes, CUSA will no longer pay the bill for travel insurance. The new plan would provide 120 days of coverage per trip, with an unlimited number of trips per year, according to StudentCare, CUSA’s health and dental plan broker.
This is the same coverage currently offered to students, though it is not advertised as part of the current health plan by CUSA since the student association must pay for the service. It is not something covered students pay into as a part of its health and dental plan premium.
When a Charlatan reporter inquired about travel insurance for a hypothetical trip with StudentCare, they were told insurance is currently made available free of charge to students.
CUSA president Folarin Odunayo said students must inquire at the CUSA office to have travel insurance paid for. This is a relatively small number of students per year.
“You’d have to come in and we’d have to fish out a plan for you. The difference is CUSA would have to pay for it,” Odunayo said. “It’s CUSA’s decision whether to charge the student the extra money for travel insurance or not. In the past, CUSA has just absorbed that cost instead of asking students to pay extra.”
The cost of travel insurance is provided through StudentCare, is facilitated through CUSA, and comes out of CUSA’s operational budget.
“It’s discretionary, but it’s not something that would be done on a case-by-case basis, it’s uniform. If you’re not going to ask one student to pay for it, you’re not going to ask any other student to pay for it,” Odunayo said. “It’s about 20-25 students a year, so it’s not that many, but it’s also like $55-$100 per policy, so if 50 students do it, that’s $5,000.”
He added it is “not financially responsible to have a policy where travel insurance is paid out through CUSA’s operational budget.”
“It puts CUSA on the line for the cost,” he said.
Odunayo said the decision was made many years ago, but it was most likely done to make coverage comparable to other student plans.
If the question passes, travel insurance will become an official part of the policy, Odunayo said.
“It would already be covered, they just have to inform the insurer that they are traveling, and fill out any forms that the insurer requires,” he said.
