DSU STUDENT ELECTIONS & REFERENDUM

Winter 2024, the DSU hosted a referendum about the Health and Dental plan. Here is the question that was asked and voted on by members.

Whereas the DSU Health and Dental plan is currently provided to students automatically
enrolled in the plan for the fall semester with a minimum of 6 registered credits at an annual
cost of $250;
Whereas the DSU Health and Dental plan provides affordable access for students to health
and dental care;
Whereas the DSU Health and Dental plan has not increased in cost since its introduction in
2003 and was decreased by $10 in 2018;
Whereas inflationary and usage increases over the past 4 years have resulted in costs to the
plan increasing by 20%;
Whereas increasing the fee by $1.25 per month for a total annual fee of $265 with allowable
future CPI increases would maintain coverage levels and provide long term stability to the
Health and Dental plan; therefore,

Are you in favour of increasing the annual fee of the DSU Health and Dental plan by $1.25 per
month starting September 2024 with allowances for annual CPI increases starting September
2025 to maintain current coverage to services?
Or
Are you in favour of maintaining the current annual fee of $250 for the DSU Health and Dental
plan with decreased coverage to services?

Here are the official referendum results:

67.6% of students voted in favour of increasing the annual fee of the DSU Health and Dental plan by $1.25 per month starting September 2024 with allowances for annual CPI increases starting September 2025 to maintain current coverage to services!

With all the changes everyone has experienced over the past few years, the Douglas Students’ Union has tried to keep up with these changes to better support students and to keep services as accessible and affordable as we can by not increasing fees, but unfortunately, we’re at a time where the health and dental plan is no longer sustainable at the current rate.

The DSU health and dental plan started in 2003, and over the years new service levels and benefits have been added but the fee hasn’t increased. In fact, in 2017, the students’ union held a referendum to decrease the health and dental plan fee from $260 to $250. Costs and usage of the plan were low, and we saw a chance to decrease the fee and acted to better support our members.

However, over the past 4 years, we’ve seen a 20% increase in plan usage, which has made the plan no longer sustainable or affordable to maintain. In order to afford the plan this next year and in future years, we need to either increase the cost of the plan, or decrease the services provided on the plan.

If you vote to increase the plan, the overall impact to you would be an increase of $1.25/month for the health and dental plan fee effective for Fall 2024, and it would allow the services on the plan to remain what they currently are.

We are excited to continue to offer these services to you, and we hope you vote yes to increase the health and dental plan fee!