The Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) has filed a complaint with SFU’s Human Resources department on behalf of their international student members over the guard.me healthcare plan, saying that the plan and its implementation are in violation of the TSSU’s collective agreement with the university.
Guard.me is the medical insurance plan that international students at SFU are enrolled into upon their arrival at the university. A three year contract with guard.me was signed by the Board of Governors last year, and implemented in the spring semester.
TSSU spokesperson Derek Sahota explained in an interview with The Peak that the main concern of the union is the mandatory nature of the program and the difficulty with opting out. “We had some members trying to get out of the program once they got their MSP [Medical Services Plan], and finding they couldn’t actually get out of the program the way that [SFU] had set everything up,” said Sahota.
Our collective agreement says members may elect to choose their provider, and SFU has basically forced them all to one provider.” -Derek Sahota, TSSU spokesperson
International students are automatically enrolled in the guard.me coverage, and are given the chance to opt-out by scanning their MSP card as proof of coverage. However, Sahota said that because of the long wait time required to attain their MSP card, students aren’t being allowed to opt out of the program, meaning that those who have gotten their MSP but haven’t received their card are faced with the expense of double coverage.
International students are eligible for MSP 2 months after their arrival in BC, which covers basic and emergency medical care and costs $66.40 per month per person. Sahota noted that international students are automatically opted into four months of the SFU facilitated guard.me service, “but only need two months and remainder of month of arrival at most,” according to the complaint.
Expense is also a consideration in the complaint against the guard.me service. The cost of four months of guard.me coverage is $353.00, compared to $150 for three months at UBC, or $183.75 for four months coverage at Kwantlen.
“Our collective agreement says members may elect to choose their provider, and SFU has basically forced them all to one provider,” said Sahota. “It’s by far the most expensive provider around, even much more expensive than just going and getting it privately on your own. So that’s a big problem for our members.”
The TSSU has scheduled a meeting for September 19 to speak to the university about the complaint.
“The members have already had it charged to them. We’re arguing that they should get a full refund because they should have had the option to elect whatever [medical plan] they wanted,” said Sahota. “In addition to that, we really want to force some changes to this program to make it going forward work better.”
In terms of ideas for improvement, Sahota pointed to a program at the University of the Fraser Valley that automatically enrolls students in their healthcare plan after three months, evading the double coverage issue. Sahota also said that the TSSU will be talking with the GSS, SFSS, and other campus groups about the complaint, in an effort to “find solutions that work for everybody.”
University officials did not respond when asked to comment on the situation.
