Over The Edge

UNBC’s Official Student Newspaper

Volume 7 - Issue 10 February 5, 2001

Excellent Qality Control Since

» 1994

The Biggest Ranouncement at UNBC since its

creation!!!

UNBC students are going to
eat free food. On the 7th and
8th of February - Wednesday
and Thursday - two health
care companies are giving
presentations at UNBC. A
free lasagna dinner will be
provided at the event, cour-

tesy of the Northern
UnderGraduate Student
Society (NUGSS).

What is really going on? It’s
quite simple - the fourth and
second last step in selecting
a health care company for
UNBC students. As you may
know, many students at
UNBC have basic medical
coverage - in BC this is called
the MSP: Medical Services
Plan. The MSP covers the
essentials, but not much else.
In other words, basic things
like surgery if a mutant goat
eats your nose, an occasion-
al eye test, a trip to the doc-
tor, and all that jazz. But
many things - like *prescrip-
tion drugs,* and “dental* are
NOT covered. Unless you are
under a plan provided by your
(parents) union or company,
you probably don’t have
extended medical.

This accounts for a lot of
people on our campus. Far
too many students never get
to see a dentist because its
too expensive. So student
unions across the country -
from UVic to UBC to U of A to
Concordia - provide extended
medical coverage to stu-

dents. Students pay into a
plan at the beginning of the
year and get “certain things”
covered, such as a percent-
age of your prescriptions. But
what gets covered depends
on *who* covers you.

Of course, UNBC is a small
school and most big health
care insurance agencies are
not interested in signing a
contract with NUGSS.
Because of this fact, NUGSS
isn’t talking to Sun Life or
Blue Cross, but rather smaller
firms who act mediators
between the student socienty
and larger companies.

Selecting a broker isn’t easy.
For the last three years
NUGSS tried and failed. Now
things are different, and sur-
prisingly energetic group of
seven undergraduate stu-
dents (including a NUGSS
director) sat down in
September and started talk-
ing about Health Care. This
dedicated group became the
health care group.

First we started reading. We
looked at stacks and stacks
of paper from seven compa-
nies - and quite a few were
interesting. Some, however,
were not for UNBC. They
were primarily interested in
serving students at universi-
ties in Ontario, or only very
large Universities. So we nar-
rowed the list down to three
firms.

Now the fun begins. Over

(well, almost)

the course of a day arr

care group did a sur- &
vey - and got an amaz- P&
ing response: over 400% A
people participated. a
You may have seen us fy...
handing out candy and By
questionnaires at af
table in the
Wintergarden. The
results for this survey §
are available at
NUGSS, and they had
a pretty clear pattern.
Many student’s were
not covered: and they
wanted to go to they?
dentist! os
By this time one of ‘ ‘
the three companies
had dropped out of the F
race. (They were too #
busy signing a contract &
with a bigger universi- §
ty.) The two compa-
nies that were left
agreed to do public
presentations in addi-
tion to longer, more detailed
ones to the health care group.
Thus we have the free food;
as a little incentive to attend.
The reason for the big event
is to keep people informed
and involve the students in
the process. Both firms are
very professional, and we
would like students to come
out and see what is happen-
ing. Considering that there
will be free treats and eats
(because NUGSS has

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Please come. J

approved a free lasagna din-
ner for all who attend) it is
really, really, really, worth
attending. Frequently, stu-
dents are left out of the
process of making decisions
on our campus. Many stu-
dents conclude that NUGSS
is part of the problem, rather
that the solution. Well, this
year NUGSS is trying to do
things differently.
Establishing the health care
group is one little step. You

Siete

FOR HEALTH CARE SESSIONS

must empower yourself too:
showing up to meetings is a
big part of this. The sessions
will be held on Wednesday
and Thursday, the 7th and 8th
of February. They will be in
the Admin. Building, and start
at around 11:30.

Please come out. Please.
Pretty Please!!!

Under The Covers

News

Page 2

Sports

Page 6

Horoscopes Soundscape Cool Stuff

Page 13

. Page 9

All Over