A race against time is underway at the University of Montreal (UdeM) to adapt the framework for group insurance offered to students in time for the next school year to a recent Quebec law on private information. Otherwise, thousands of students could no longer be covered, fear several associations that represent them. A scenario that the University claims to want to avoid.
Currently, at UdeM as elsewhere in the university network, students are automatically registered for insurance covering various health care services, for example visits to the dentist, to the psychologist, as well as the purchase of medical equipment, such as prostheses and insulin pumps. For dental care alone, students at UdeM, the largest university in Quebec, claim more than 2 million dollars each year through these insurances, indicates Duty the Alliance for Student Health in Quebec (ASEQ), which plays the role of broker between insurance providers and student associations.
In recent months, however, negotiations have broken down between UdeM and two groups of student associations at the University, which had proposed putting an end to the current model, commonly called “ opt-out “. This model provides that all students are automatically enrolled in insurance offered on campus, for a few hundred dollars per year, with the exception of those who request not to be enrolled within six weeks after the start of their studies. studies. Last year, the withdrawal rate of students from these insurances was 32% at UdeM, indicates to Duty ASEQ, which manages these requests.
The University had thus indicated that it wanted to comply with Law 25, which modernized the rules protecting personal information in Quebec, by opting for a formula “ opt-in “. According to this model, only students who sign explicit authorization will see their personal information communicated to insurers and a contribution billed to them, in order to give them access to this group insurance.
“We would transform this into a regime where people must indicate their individual interest to enter [dans le régime d’assurances collectives étudiantes]and that, there is currently no insurer who wants to insure this type of plan because there are no advantages for them,” warns the secretary general of the Federation of student associations of the campus of the University of Montreal (FAECUM), Alecsandre Sauvé-Lacoursière.
A model criticized
A report published at the end of January by the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) after an extensive consultation also came to the conclusion that such a model would risk leading to an “too significant” increase in the premiums imposed. to students who voluntarily register for these group insurance plans, which would bring about “the end” of the latter. The AMF thus concluded that the model of automatic membership with right of withdrawal to insurance offered to members of student associations, currently widespread in the university network, should be maintained.
“We have the impression of being betrayed by UdeM,” says the external affairs coordinator at Asso-CETASE, which represents students registered at the University’s Asian Studies Center, Justine Laforge. . According to her, the prospect that student group insurance will no longer become functional on her campus “creates a lot of concern” among its members.
FAECUM also launched an online petition on March 20 to “support the right of student associations to offer group insurance plans.” This has since collected more than 1,400 signatures.
“For the moment, the University of Montreal is the only university that makes this strict interpretation of the law,” laments the president of the Quebec Student Union, Catherine Bibeau-Lorrain, who says she fears that the model proposed in the latest months by UdeM to regulate the student group insurance offered on its campus “is spreading to all universities” in the province.
Get along quickly
Faced with this headwind, UdeM submitted a new proposed agreement last week to the groups of student associations involved in this issue, we learned The duty. The proposed model, the details of which have not been revealed, would make it possible to maintain the automatic registration formula for students while improving the communication offered to them regarding the options available to them to “withdraw from the system” if they wish, indicates the spokesperson for the establishment, Geneviève O’Meara.
“I reiterate that UdeM has absolutely no intention of depriving students who wish to benefit from an insurance plan,” said the spokesperson, who hopes to “reach an agreement with associations [étudiantes] as soon as possible “.
However, this is a preliminary proposal which must be processed by the UdeM student association groups, who will then submit a new proposal to the latter. However, time is running out for the parties to come to an agreement in this matter, underlines Alecsandre Sauvé-Lacoursière.
“If we do not have a solution by the end of May, it will not be possible to offer an insurance plan next fall,” warns the general secretary of FAECUM, according to whom a such an outcome would have an impact on the finances of many students who particularly need psychological or dental care. “We need to get along quickly,” agrees Geneviève O’Meara.