By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: January 30, 2013
This coming March, students will be faced with not one but two referendums regarding the current Health and Dental fee.
The first referendum will ask students if they are willing to increase the Health and Dental fee in order to expand or keep services at the current level. If the referendum fails to pass, the fee will stay at the current rate – but students will see a decrease in services.
SUS president Shane Potter says the problem is simple: the program is costing more than the current fee can pay for.
“People are using the program,” he explains. “We have to either increase funding into it or decrease services, and that’s really the crossroads we’re at. If students feel they can’t justify the increase, then they will have to take a decrease in services.”
Part of this imbalance comes from the fact that UFV’s student body has a different composition than other universities, which means more students are drawing on the service than expected.
“We are a very different animal than other universities,” Potter says. “We have a lot of mature students, we have a lot of people [who are] economically disadvantaged … so we see a much higher use rate than a lot of other universities will.”
Potter explains that the current Health and Dental fee was reasonable at the time it was introduced, but is less and less effective as medical costs rise each year. This is where the other referendum steps in, proposing a policy to allow the Health and Dental fee to increase in step with inflation on a yearly basis.
The SUS board has looked into the specific inflation rate of medical services and determined that the policy should allow for a five per cent increase every year.
“What that will do is allow the health and dental rate to increase by five per cent every year so that the services can stay on par with where they were the previous year,” Potter explains.
This would end the need for a more substantial increase in the fee every few years or so.
“It’s really not fair to expect a massive increase every three or four years, which is what we’d have to do,” Potter says. “This way it creates a ready-set policy that allows the rate to correlate with the services offered. It’s less of a shock, and more gradual.”
Both referendums will require a 60 per cent “yes” vote to pass, and will run on myUFV from March 1–8.
Referendum question one:
“Are you in favour of the University of the Fraser Valley Student Union Society setting the Health and Dental fee to $229.92, to increase Basic Dental and Prescription Drug coverage to 60 per cent and 80 per cent respectively?”
Referendum question two:
“Are you in favour of allowing the University of the Fraser Valley Student Union Society Board to adjust the Health and Dental fee by up to five per cent each year after 2014, to adapt to cost fluctuation?”
