Is Concordia’s International Student Health Care Accessible Enough?

International Students Claim to Neglect Their Health Due to a Lack of Accessible Health Care

NewsMenna Nayel — Published October 17, 2022 5 minutes

According to the university’s statistics, 21.5 per cent of its students are international. “It’s required by [Quebec’s] immigration that universities provide the [health] plan to the international students,” explained Kelly Collins, manager at Concordia’s International Students Services Office.”

Amongst the services provided by Blue Cross are hospitalization, prescription drugs, abortion, dental care, and psychiatric help. Collins explained that international student health care is more extensive than the services covered by RAMQ, the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec. 

Although Blue Cross provides dental care, the service is limited to the treatment of dental injuries. Students can receive a maximum reimbursement of $250 for “dental or oral surgery performed in a hospital, when ordered by a physician,” as stated in the Blue Cross Policy booklet. 

“But that's rare,” Collins said. “Really, most students are going to need cavities, root canals, and checkups.”

Concordia Student Union and Graduate Student Association offer students dental care on a yearly basis. International students can register at the beginning of their school year through Student Care. The CSU’s coverage for a full year costs $105.50 with a maximum reimbursement of $750. The GSA’s coverage for a full year costs $171.48 with a maximum reimbursement of $500.

“I paid full price [for the prescription] and was not reimbursed. You have to be very persistent to get your money back.” — Mohamed Elnaggar

By paying the yearly fee for the Blue Cross insurance, international students are entitled to a maximum of $1.5 million in reimbursements across all services offered to them. “Some people have very high medical bills,” Collins explained. “Everybody pays into a plan, but most people–we hope–don't necessarily need to use the plan.” 

Depending on the pharmacy, students may pay for prescriptions themselves and then request a reimbursement from Blue Cross. Paying upfront for a new prescription is common, but renewals are usually free, explained Collins.

Mohamed Elnaggar, a fourth-year Egyptian student at Concordia,  discussed his experience with buying prescriptions using his health insurance. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Elnaggar exhibited serious flu symptoms. After consulting a doctor online, as per the school’s recommendations, he was prescribed medication. 

“I paid full price [for the prescription] and was not reimbursed. You have to be very persistent to get your money back,” he said. “I was also too sick to worry about getting my money back.”

Elnaggar added he mainly takes issue with not being able to use the services he pays for, claiming the process of navigating the healthcare system is too complicated. “When I get sick, I am always too tired to look into what I need to do or who I have to go to. It seems like such a long process. I usually just see a doctor when I go back to Egypt,” he explained.

Maria Cholakova, second-year Bulgarian student at Concordia, shares Elnaggar’s experience. Because of the lack of dental coverage in the international student health plan, Cholakova went back to her native country during summer break and visited her dentist there. 

“I can’t go back home every year to do dental appointments,” she said.“It's impractical and I shouldn't rely on traveling back home 11 hours to go to the doctor. It's insane.”

Cholakova also shared how difficult it is to obtain information about international student health care. “Maybe there is information out there, but I don't feel like it's so widely accessible,” she added.

While in Bulgaria, Cholakova saw a few doctors for illnesses she had. “If it was [in Montreal], I wouldn't have gone to the doctor. I would have just sucked it up and bought medicine from the pharmacy,” she said.

Her only attempt to seek any medical help was through the University’s Mental Health Support Services. “It’s really hard to book an appointment because they're really busy all the time,” she said. “And this applies to every student.”

Although students express the sentiment that health care at Concordia feels inaccessible, Collins stated that “if they have any, any problems that they can't resolve, then they come to our office and we'll sort them out.”

Another concern Cholakova has is that Concordia’s international student health care is overpriced for the services provided and should include dental and mental health care. “I feel like if it was top notch– perfect–I would use it all the time, everybody would be willing to pay the price we’re paying, but most students usually don't even use the services and still pay. It's too much.” 

Elnaggar, however, does not share the same opinion, “I pay $30K a year in tuition, another $1,300 for insurance is nothing in comparison.” 

“It’s impractical and I shouldn’t rely on traveling back home 11 hours to go to the doctor. It’s insane.” — Maria Cholakova

Conversely, not all international students pay for health care. Some students are considered exceptions. Due to intergovernmental agreements, full-time students coming from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, and Sweden receive free RAMQ insurance and pay Quebec tuition fees.

Alex Day Leenders, a graduate student at Concordia University, moved from Belgium to Montreal in 2014 to attend McGill University. “It was marketed as a cross-governmental program to bring skills into Quebec,” Leenders explained.  

“For better or for worse, I benefit from this policy,” said Leenders. He discussed that coming from Belgium, most people make assumptions regarding his financial situation. However, Leenders explained, “Having lost my family early on in my life, having to pay for my tuition out of my [own] pocket with my own labor, I feel gratitude that this program exists.”

Understanding that this program is motivated by prejudice, Leenders said “Quebec is reflective of the elected officials and of the society that has elected them.” 

“Why am I, as a Belgian student, paying less than someone from Ontario?” asked Leenders. “That is something you can’t avoid reckoning with. And if the answer is I'm from a francophone community, there are francophone communities in Ontario.” 

Despite his understanding of the program's injustice, Leenders believes that removing it would be futile. “This policy is only a symptom of a larger disease. If we address just this policy, it's not going to benefit anybody. Removing this policy is going to do more harm than good.”

This article was written by a graduate student in journalism at Concordia and interviewed an undergraduate student also in journalism. This disclaimer is in accordance with The Link’s conflict of interest by-laws, however no conflict of interest was found in the writing of this article

A mistake was made in Maria Cholakova's name. The Link corrected her name and this article has been modified to reflect that.