By: Jonah Lazar, Staff Writer
The Simon Fraser Student Society’s (SFSS) health and dental plan is as wide as the sea and as deep as a pond. Currently, two plans are available to undergraduate SFU students, an enhanced care plan and a basic care plan for a reduced fee. Each has a short period of time to opt out entirely with proof of alternative coverage. These plans are offered by Alumo (previously Studentcare), a student dental and health care provider contracted by the SFSS. While the plan covers a lot, the maximum annual amounts don’t.
The enhanced care plan is the default for undergraduate students. It costs $364 a year and students receive an annual maximum of $750 for mental health services, $400 for physiotherapy, and $700 for dental care. Students also receive coverage for services like osteopathy, naturopathy, and massage therapists, as well as $150 every two years for eyeglasses and up to 80% coverage for prescription drugs.
On the surface that seems like decent coverage, however if you are in actual need of these services, you will end up having to pay for them yourself very quickly.
On the surface that seems like decent coverage, however if you are in actual need of these services, you will end up having to pay for them yourself very quickly. Mental health services like therapy cost anywhere from $140–$175 per hour; exhausting your coverage between 4–5 visits. If you need to visit a physiotherapist, which costs about $130 per visit in BC, you’ll be paying out of pocket by your fourth visit. $700 for dental care is OK but it comes with multiple conditions, and you really need to use StudentCare’s dental network to reduce your out of pocket costs. Dental work isn’t cheap, with crowns costing $1,000 or more.
There has reportedly been a significant increase in health and dental claims recently; last year, former SFSS president Emmanuel Adegboyega wrote in The Peak that there has been a 35% increase in claims since 2020. Despite this, students have shut down most attempts to increase health fees. From 2010–2023, there were five health and dental referendum campaigns, all of which failed. In 2025, a successful referendum raised the fees from $267 to $364, winning by just 49 votes. What’s needed is an increase in transparency. How many students actively use the plan? How many max out the different areas? What changes are students asking for in those surveys each year that Alumo runs? How much would it cost the plan if the caps were doubled?
The referendum’s history of failure does not indicate that this system will improve anytime soon, if the SFSS keeps approaching the situation in the same way. Better communication is needed to end this referendum’s losing streak. First off, SFU’s undergraduate student body in spring 2025 was 24,238 strong, yet the health and dental fee question only had a total 2,345 votes — that’s a 9.7% voter turnout. What’s worse is that the turnout is often far lower; in 2022, only 543 ballots were cast on this matter. Clearly, the SFSS is failing to effectively communicate and campaign to the student body. They should start by reaching out to other student unions that have consistently larger election and referendum turnout, like the University of British Columbia Alma Mater Society, to learn how to run campaigns.
If the current plan was strong enough for students to be able to rely on it, then the student body would value it as an essential service. As it stands, however, the insurance plan is not enough for anyone who actually needs it, and a waste of almost $400 for those who don’t. So why do you expect students to vote for a more expensive status quo?
