One of the perks for being a full-time student is the health and dental plan from Studentcare you get automatically enrolled in every fall semester for $195.59. You can even enroll your spouse, common-law partner, or any dependants in the plan for an additional fee. You may have been automatically enrolled in this plan without knowing what exactly is covered. I am here to tell you all the benefits you have and how to make the most of your plan.
I can tell you as someone who was covered under the plan for two years that it is a decent enough health-care plan and I was grateful to have it, but as soon as I got coverage from my current employer, I was off the Studentcare plan in a heartbeat. If you have health-care coverage from your work, or if you are still considered a dependant and your parents or legal guardians have better coverage, go for that. It’s all about doing your research and getting the most out of your plan.
Prescription drugs are covered up to 80 per cent. Not everything you’ll pick up from the pharmacy is covered 80 per cent though: only what is listed in the B.C. Fair PharmaCare formulary. You can, however, submit a drug exception request to try and get a non-eligible drug covered by your plan. You also need to register with Fair PharmaCare to be eligible for these prices and have PharmaCare special authority if you want Studentcare to cover an exception drug. If you’re a new international student and don’t yet qualify for MSP or PharmaCare, you can email Studentcare to register. When possible, get your prescriptions filled at Rexall, as Studentcare has partnered with them to provide students with some extra coverage on out-of-pocket expenses.
Prescription vaccinations covered by PharmaCare are 70 per cent covered and non-prescription vaccinations, like certain vaccines you need to travel, are also covered 70 per cent, but you max out after $150. (Don’t let this impress you though, because I just got a handful of shots at the end of last year to go to India in the winter semester, and my yellow fever vaccine alone cost $150.)
Psychologist costs are covered at 80 per cent per visit with an annual maximum of $500. Studentcare has partnered with PsyVitalitï to connect students to affordable psychologists. When booking your appointment, make sure you mention your coverage under Studentcare to get the preferred rate. However, it’s important to note that you don’t need to be on this plan to access counselling services, as UFV counsellors are always accepting appointments with students.
The Studentcare plan also provides students with access to Empower Me, a hotline available 24/7 for students experiencing mental health distress, career or financial planning concerns, relational conflicts — anything really. I have used this service many times and can highly recommend it; it’s a very helpful resource if you ever need an anonymous, confidential, trained person to just listen to you and offer you some advice or just kind words. You can even book an appointment for a counselling session during your phone call. However, this mental health service is not meant for long-term support; rather, your counsellor spends one to two sessions with you before you determine together whether you need more. When I used this service, I got a maximum of three sessions, and then the counsellor I worked with applied to get another two sessions covered.
Health practitioners like chiropractors, physiotherapists, podiatrists, osteopaths, speech therapists, naturopaths, and athletic therapists have the same coverage at $40 per visit, with an annual maximum of $400. This goes for massage therapists and registered dieticians as well, but you need to have a referral by a medical doctor or chiropractor to have those treatments covered.
Studentcare has also partnered with various health practitioners throughout the whole Lower Mainland to ensure that students can access treatment options that fall within their coverage. However, this is dependent upon the service; if you want a chiropractor or physiotherapy appointment, you’re in luck, because the chiropractic and physiotherapy professionals partnered with Studentcare have agreed to make these sessions below $40, leaving you with no out-of-pocket costs. But if you wanted to see a naturopath, for example, you can expect these appointments to cost much more than $40, but at least you get a small discount. You can visit the full network listings here.
We also have home care options: home nurse visits are completely covered when approved by a doctor and Studentcare. As well, the cost of private tutors is available if you cannot leave your home due to accident or illness-related disability; however, only $10/hour is covered, at a maximum of $300 per accident or illness.
A lot of medical equipment is also covered with the approval of a doctor, such as crutches, wheelchair rental, hospital-style beds, and prosthetic devices.
For vision, you can replace your eyeglasses every two years as they give you an allowance of $100 per 24 months (which you can apply to contact lenses too). You can also get an eye exam every two years, and the plan covers $50 of the cost. They also cover $150 of laser eye surgery per year, and you get an additional $200 discount when using Lasik MD. Studentcare has also partnered with Image Optometry to ensure you pay no more than $50 for an eye exam, and have a selection of glasses that are under $100 so that you are fully covered. I used this service when I discovered that I couldn’t read the whiteboard in class, so I just went to the mall, got my exam and glasses, submitted my receipts to Studentcare through their handy app, and was reimbursed a few weeks later.
Travel is actually a huge benefit of this plan, but with COVID-19 travel restrictions, I am guessing this portion of the plan will not be utilized as frequently. If you do decide to travel, you are covered for up to 120 days per trip. They also have given huge allowances for trip cancellation at $1,500 and trip interruption at $5,000. If you have a serious medical incident while travelling, you get $5,000,000 worth of coverage in your lifetime. Like I said, not a lot of people are travelling internationally at the moment, but this portion of the plan was great pre-COVID-19, especially for one-day shopping trips across the border.
Dental is arguably the weakest part of this coverage. It gives you $750 per year; preventative services like cleanings and extractions are 70 per cent covered, and basic services like fillings and oral surgery are only 50 per cent covered. Most basic services like fluoride application and cleaning/polishing are only covered for one visit per year.
On my last trip to the dentist, for cleaning alone I paid $150 out of pocket because all the services done — fluoride, oral exam, polish — were considered as “basic,” and I had to cover half of the cost. Furthermore, the plan only covers up to two “units” of scaling per year, and each unit is 15 minutes of teeth scraping. So, if the dental hygienist spends longer than 30 minutes on this task, you’re paying 100 per cent of the cost past the two units covered. To take care of the three cavities discovered in my initial cleaning visit would have cost me over $300 out of pocket with this student coverage. Major restorative services like crowns or bridges are not covered in the plan at all. However, you can get 20 per cent extra coverage on all these services if you use a dentist within the Studentcare Dental Network.
The only major dental surgery you get fully covered is in the case of a medical emergency that involves an accidental blow to the mouth in which your teeth need repair or replacement. This is technically listed under the health section of your insurance and not under your dental coverage.
So there you have it: some basic information on how you can best utilize your Studentcare plan. Do some exploring yourself on Studentcare’s (poorly designed) website to learn more!
(David Travis/Unsplash)
Note: This article has been updated/modified since it was originally posted.
Andrea Sadowski is working towards her BA in Global Development Studies, with a minor in anthropology and Mennonite studies. When she's not sitting in front of her computer, Andrea enjoys climbing mountains, sleeping outside, cooking delicious plant-based food, talking to animals, and dismantling the patriarchy.
