Notice of Okanagan College Students' Union Referendum

The Okanagan College Student Union is holding a Membership Referendum via special election. The referendum will be asking members of the student union one yes or no question: 

Are you in favour of changing the requirement for coverage by the OCSU Extended Health and Dental service from 9 credits or equivalent down to 6 credits or equivalent? 

Why are we looking to make this change?

• More students are enrolling in part time studies. By lowering the requirement to 6 credits this means that students who are taking part time classes are still eligible for the health and dental plan.
• Students with disabilities shouldn’t be forced to disclose their status to get on the plan. Students who have disability status are considered full time at 6 credits. Currently, to be able to get on the plan they are required to disclose their status to OCSU and have to be manually enrolled. By lowering the requirement to 6 credits, students with disabilities will not have to disclose anything and will be automatically enrolled. 
• Having a plan gives you protection. The benefits are specifically tailored to the needs of students, so if something unexpected happens, we have you covered!
• The plan is accessible anywhere you live in Canada. Everything you need for the plan is available online, we have staff to support you if you have questions, and making claims is simple and quick.

We believe that it is a matter of fundamental fairness that all OCSU student members have equitable access to the benefits of this service. To this end the OCSU Board of Directors has approved this referendum question to broaden access of this service to all the majority of OCSU student members. 

The Referendum Special Election will take place on April 11th and 12th via election buddy. All current OCSU members will be emailed a one-time use link and password to vote either yes or no to the proposed change to the extended health and dental plan.

What if I already have a benefits plan or don’t want this coverage? 

• Students can combine the coverage of two or more plans to maximise their claims. Often using two plans gets services covered either nearly completely, or fully. 
• It's more than just prescriptions and dental.  Plan members can also access coverage for vision, counselling, physiotherapy, massage therapy, medical devices, and more.
• Any student who has equal or greater benefits through another plan can opt out of the plan within 30 days of their program start date.

What if I have dependents? 

• Spouses, common law partners, and children under the age of 18 can be added as dependents. This is for both full time and part time students.