The Mental Health Coverage In Our Health Plan Is Reduced To 400 A Year? What On Earth is Going On With The UTSU Undergrad Health Plan?
(To all of you who are affected by this, please do the best you can to take care of yourselves. Stay safe and stay hopeful!❤)
For all who are reading this post: Some points on the current mental health crisis at UofT and the devastating effects of UTSU's decision
Main post:
Hi,
Does any one have any idea why the mental health coverage has suddenly been reduced to $400 PER YEAR for UTSG full-time undergrads? Is this a joke of some sort? Or do they think UTSG is such a great place for students' mental well-being? Here's the new coverage scheme:
Our health plan used to cover $100 each session for up to 15 times a year. Considering any kind of counsellor or psychologist would go above 150-200 for a single session, 400 dollars per year is just friggin ridiculous. Not everybody can afford to wait half a year to see a psychiatrist in a country with a crumbling healthcare system.
What's odd is that both UTM and UTSC plans as well as the part-time UTSG plan covers 125 per treatment session for 20-25 sessions per year. Why are UTSG full-time undergrads single out for this? Are we penalized for studying full-time here at St. George campus?
No prior notice, no explanation, just leaving us high and dry. Then in the end, I'm probably just supposed to suck it up and suffer. I guess that's the proper UofT experience
Updates:
Sep 13: I just checked at 8AM this morning, now all descriptions of mental health coverage on the Studentcare website have been updated to the new 400 dollar yearly coverage. Part of the changes were made between midnight and 8AM this morning. The UTSU site still shows the old coverage tho (It has also been updated to the new scheme on Sep 16);
The GreenShield Student Centre website doesn't even have our health plan on it. They have UTM, UTSC, and U of T Part-time plans, but not ours. Here's the link: https://www.greenshield.ca/en-ca/student-centre;
It seems that The Varsity is now aware of this. Let's see what more they'll find out about this
Sep 15: I have written a little about the current mental health crisis at UofT and the devastating effects of UTSU's decision (link). But it's a bit long (I'm really sorry), so I've posted it on my profile.
Statistics for mental health incidents at UofT each year can be found here: Campus Safety Reports
Sep 16: IMPORTANT UPDATE: UTSU has announced on their website that they have increased the UTSU Mental Health Care Support Fund to $1,100 per year to compensate for the reduction in insurance coverage. Now, I have not yet been able to access the application form to see the details, but I will let you all know when it becomes accessible.
Evening, Sep 16: The application form is accessible as of now. The instructions seem a bit complex. It seems to read that one has to first use up the health plan coverage and then apply for the fund for up to $100 per visit until the total amount you've applied for during the year exceeds $1,100. And there're also specific requirements for supporting documents. Please correct me if I'm understanding this wrong.
Sep 23: As people have mentioned in the comments and other posts, The Varsity has published an article following their investigation. It seems that UTSU still has zero intention of offering any explanation for their action or issuing any sort of apology.
To everybody: It seems that all the inquiries, complaints and increased awareness that all of you have raised up in the last a few days have finally made UTSU at least realize the gravity of their decision. We'll see what future steps they will be taking. Kudos to you all! I'm so proud of everyone here!