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DSU switches brokers for Extended Health and Dental Plan

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By Julia Siedlanowska,
Contributor

ast month the Douglas

Students’ Union (DSU)
Representative Committee
held a meeting regarding the
Extended Health and Dental
Plan, and came to the decision
to move coverage brokers,
selecting Gallivan & Associates
for the 2013/14 fiscal year.

In the spring of 2012, the
DSU received a renewal notice
from current firm, Morneau
Shepell, indicating that the
costs of the Health and Dental
Plan would increase by 8 per
cent beginning September 1,
2012. The DSU would have to
hold a referendum to increase
the $260 student fee, or cut
services to bring the costs down.
The representative committee
chose to cut naturopath and
acupuncture services, put a
$3,000 cap on medications, and
restrict paramedical services
such as chiropractors and
massages, thereby avoiding

increased student fees.

For the 2013-2014 renewal,
Morneau Shepell indicated
to Green Shield, the DSU’s
representative broker, that paid
claims for Douglas College
increased by 7.8 per cent.
However, this rate was before
the service cuts implemented
in 2012-2013. Morneau Shepell
negotiated a rate increase of 2.9
per cent for the coming year
that would increase annually by
eight to 10 per cent. By choosing
to renew with Morneau Shepell,
the DSU would have had to
subsidize the plan, depleting
the Health and Dental Fund and
leaving less money for other
operations such as campus
events and campaigns.

Jesse Stamberg, Internal
Relations Coordinator, and
DSU treasurer Devlin Pereira
consulted another broker,
Gallivan & Associates, for a
comparative analysis of both
firms. The benefits for going
with Gallivan included a
two-year $218.84 locked-in
rate, additional vision benefit
($60 for eye exams and $100

for glasses every 10 months),
implementation of PharmaCare
enrollment (allowing the
provincial government to take
over payments after a student
reaches a certain amount of
medical purchases), and a
surplus of $30.75 going into the
Health and Dental Fund (with
the option of $10 cash back to
students.) With the surplus
money there would be a total
of $197,000 savings in the first
two years creating “tremendous
stability for the DSU.”

After the July 11 meeting,
the DSU decided to switch
Health and Dental Plan carriers.
“The previous plan carrier
continually increased the
premiums which would this
year have forced the DSU to
hold a referendum to increase
students’ fees. By changing
to the new broker, insurer
premiums will be significantly
reduced, allowing the DSU to
build the Health and Dental
Reserve Fund and avoid
increasing student fees for
years to come while increasing
benefits,” says Stamberg.

 

Photo courtesy of Defence Images (Flickr)

 

World Recap: August

 

By Dylan Hackett, News Editor

North America: (United States)
The USA issued a travel alert to
all citizens abroad in response to

alleged threat of terrorist attacks.

Obama administration officials
released to the press that al
Qaeda have made intentions
clear that they are planning
attacks in the Middle East and
North America. The United
States closed 22 embassies last
weekend, including those in
Baghdad, Cairo, Tripoli, and
Dubai. The alert will cease at the
end of August and is largely a
measure in reaction to the attack
on the American embassy in
Libya on September 11 of last
year.

(Canada) Three Quebec women
protested topless on Parliament
Hill on behalf of Nathalie
Morin, a Montreal ex-pat who
moved to Saudi Arabia with

her husband eight years ago,
trapped overseas because the
Saudi government refuses to
issue passports to her three
children. The Department of
Foreign Affairs, Trade and
Development have claimed they
are working on Morin’s case
but aren’t pressuring beyond
Saudi Arabia's legal system. The
women chose to protest topless

to evoke the spirit of FEMEN, a
European feminist collective that
often counter-protests fascist
rallies topless. The protesters

are members of the new Quebec
chapter of FEMEN.

Asia: (Afghanistan) A suicide
bomber attacked the Indian
embassy in Afghanistan. The
attack in Jalalabad killed nine
people and wounded 22 others.
After the Saturday bombing
there was gunfire for over

an hour around the Indian
consulate. Police believe that
the consulate was the target of
the attack, although most of
those killed were in an adjacent
mosque. Taliban nor al Qaeda
have claimed responsibility for
the attack.

Middle East: (Yemen) A two
and a half minute video of an
escaped child bride went viral
last month. Eleven-year-old
Nada Al-Ahdal accuses her
parents of selling her off to
marriage in exchange for money
in the surfaced clip and calls
for action against the dowry
sale of child brides in Yemen.
“What about the innocence

of childhood? What have the
children done wrong so that
you would marry them off like
that?” she exclaims in the clip.
The selling off of children into

marriage is an alarming cultural
fixture to those unaware of

the Islamic tribal country. The
CIA world factbook states that
Yemeni mothers bear on average
four to five children.

Europe: (Italy) Suicide rates
have spiked in Italy this

year, largely attributed to the
“precarious” economic situation
of many families in the nation.
The first quarter of 2013 saw

40 per cent more suicides

than the first of 2012, half of
those being related to the poor
economy and financial burdens
and 28 per cent were related to
unemployment. Data from May
pegs Italy’s unemployment rate
at 12.2 per cent. Thirty of the 32
suicides in the first three months
of this year were male.

Africa: (Zimbabwe) Leader

of the ZANU-PF opposition
party, Robert Mugabe, has been
declared the winner of last
month’s elections. Incumbent
social democratic Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai rejects the
results of the election, claiming
them as a “farce.” Tsvangirai
plans to fight the results in
court. Tsvangirai won 34 per
cent of the vote with opposition
leader Mugabe earning 61 per
cent.

 

Femen Quebec on University Ave., near Tunisian Embassy office in Montreal .
Photo courtesy of Francis William Rnéaume

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