Health and Dental Plan

The Students’ Union administers an extended health and dental plan to make health coverage more accessible and affordable for students. The coverage is offered by Green Shield Canada, and supports students to maintain high quality of health and ensures that you are covered when medical emergencies come up.

About your Plan

The Students’ Union health and dental plan contains a huge range of benefits that helps students with medical and other issues. The plan costs less than $23 per month and provides access to thousands of dollars in benefits. Be sure to understand what is included before you decide to opt out because once opted out, you cannot opt back into the plan unless you lose your current coverage.

Contact Info

McKenzie Hutchison

Services Coordinator

Email: services@suvcc.ca

Check Your Coverage

What is covered with my benefits?

The following is a summary of the components of the coverage provided by the Students’ Union:

80% coverage for prescription medications up to $2,000 per year;
Coverage of $50 per visit for treatments by paramedical providers (physiotherapist, chiropractor, etc) with total coverage of up to $300 per year per type of treatment;
Up to $525 per year in coverage for counselling by a social worker or psychologist (provided at $75 per visit);
Vision coverage at $225 every two years ($100 every two years for eye exams plus $125 every two years for prescription glasses, contacts, etc);
Dental coverage of up to $700 per year for preventative and restorative work at 80% coverage;
Travel insurance for trips of up to 90 days;
A comprehensive Accidental death and dismemberment benefit plan;
A legal advisory service that provides telephone legal assistance and access to legal representation at a discount

Who qualifies for the SUVCC Health and Dental coverage?

Most full time students, enrolled in a program running 26 weeks or longer, are automatically enrolled in the plan for 12 months. Exceptions include:

University transfer students enrolled in 3 or more classes, starting in September will be enrolled for 12 months
Music students enrolled in full time studies (determined through their registration), starting in September will be enrolled for 12 months
Students in programs running more than one year, but less than 2 years will be enrolled for 18 months from their program start date.
Various Continuing Studies programs longer then 17 weeks in length, and offers at least 4 hours/ week access to office hours

Other exceptions may apply. Review your MyVCC account summary to inquire about your inclusion in the plan or email services@suvcc.ca

Student Dental Discount Network

Looking for discounts on dental work? As a member of the SUVCC Health and Dental plan, you have access to the Student Dental Discount Network. This network allows you to find discounted dental offices in your area, leaving you paying less for your dental work! To search clinics in your area visit

Find Discounts

What is the Change of Status Period?:

During the first 30 days of your program you are in the Change of Status Period. This period allows for students to be able to opt out, opt in family, withdrawal from classes, or change to full or part time studies. GreenShield is not notified of your inclusion in the plan until after this period is completed. Once this period is over you will be able to register your account online to submit claims and use the mobile app. Any out of pocket expenses acquired during this period may be claimed online after its completion.

Opting Out

Students who are already covered by an equivalent health and dental plan may opt-out of the SUVCC health plan prior to the completion of the first 30 days of their program.

To opt out, visit suvcc.studenthealthbc.ca

Click the “Opt Out Here” on the top menu bar
Complete the student information section with all relevant and accurate information. Make sure to hyphenate the dates required ie: 2022-01-20
Click “next”. You will then be required to provide information about your existing coverage.
Upon submission, your opt-out request will be reviewed. If approved, the college will be notified to change your account to opt out status ensuring you will be opted out of the plan for all future enrolments. If you were charged the health plan before your opt-out is processed, a refund will be credited to your account. If there are no outstanding fees on your account then the cashier will issue a cheque to the address on file. The entire process can take up to 30 days to complete. Before this process occurs, you will receive an “Opt Out Request Approved” email from SUVCC notifying you of your successful opt out.

Please note:

Proof of your alternate insurance is required
Only requests completed in the first 30 days or earlier of the program start date will be processed
Confirmation of completing the opt-out form does not guarantee the opt-out will be successful
Once you have been successfully opted-out of the health plan, you will remain opted-out indefinitely

If your current insurance provider is “Great West Life” you will need to select “Canada Life”

Please note that the Medical Services Plan (MSP) is not considered to be equivalent to the SUVCC Health and Dental Plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between my extended benefits and MSP?

MSP – What is it?

MSP stands for Medical Services Plan
It is a Public Health Insurance plan
Mandatory under the Medicare Protection Act
Meant to cover the cost of medically necessary insured doctor services

What does MSP include? :

Required medical services provided by physicians and midwives:

medically required services provided by a physician enrolled with MSP;
maternity care provided by a physician or a midwife;

medically required eye examinations provided by an ophthalmologist or optometrist for adults aged 19-64;
annual eye examinations for children aged 0-18 and seniors aged 65+;
diagnostic services, including x-rays, provided at approved diagnostic facilities, when ordered by a registered physician, midwife, podiatrist, dental surgeon or oral surgeon;
dental and oral surgery, when medically required to be performed in hospital (excluding restorative services, i.e.: fillings, caps, crowns, root canals, etc.)*; does not include wisdom teeth unless hospitalization is required as a result of extreme complexity of the extraction alongside associated pathology.
orthodontic services related to severe congenital facial abnormalities.

For Indigenous identifying members, MSP may cover supplementary benefits including:
- acupuncture
- chiropractic
- massage therapy
- naturopathy
- physical therapy; and
- non-surgical podiatry
- refer to https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/health-drug-coverage/msp/bc-residents/benefits/services-covered-by-msp/supplementary-benefits for more details.

What does MSP not cover?

services that are deemed to be not medically required, such as cosmetic surgery;
dental services, except as outlined under benefits;
routine eye examinations for persons 19 to 64 years of age;
eyeglasses, hearing aids, and other equipment or appliances;
prescription drugs (see PharmaCare);
acupuncture, chiropractic, massage therapy, naturopathy, physical therapy and non-surgical podiatry services (except for MSP beneficiaries receiving supplementary benefits);
preventive services and screening tests not supported by evidence of medical effectiveness (for example, routine annual “complete” physical examinations, whole body CT scans, prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests);
services of counsellors or psychologists;
medical examinations, certificates or tests required for:
- driving a motor vehicle
- employment
- life insurance
- school or university
- recreational and sporting activities
- immigration purposes

How do I get my Member ID Card?

Students can access their digital ID card by downloading the GSC Everywhere app.

Your Green Shield ID number is VCC + the last 6 digits of your student number + -00. For example: VCC123456-00. If you have added a dependent onto your coverage, their coverage number would be VCC + the last 6 digits of your student number + -01, or VCC123456-01. For every dependent, the extension of -00 will increase by one.

Claiming out-of-pocket expenses

Log in to GSC Everywhere
Click the green “Submit a Claim” Button
Type in the kind of service you want to make a claim for
Search your health provider by name or phone number OR add a new provider
Enter the requested information about your claim

Watch this video

How do I add family members to my account?

To opt in your family members please complete the following steps:

Sign into your Member Portal:
Click on “Go to Benefits Portal” in the top left corner
Click on “Life Events” in the top panel
Click the “New Student Enrolment” link
Click the checkbox to indicate that you have read and understood the “terms and conditions”
Click on the blue arrow on the bottom right hand side of the screen

You are now in the enrolment screen! Here you can add your dependants!

Click the blue “ + add spouse or child”
Complete the information box to add a dependent and click save
Repeat the above steps for each additional dependant you would like to add

The family opt in fees are as follows.

One additional family member 12 months: $275
Two or more family members 12 months: $480
One additional family member 18 months: $412.50
Two or more family members 18 months: $720

Please note that your family opt in length of coverage and associated fees are calculated based on your length of enrolment:

You will then see your family members listed as active – please note, for activation to be complete you must complete the payment process (see FINAL STEP). It will then take 48 hours to see your family members active on your Green Shield Membership Portal after payment.

Once you have added your dependants, click the blue arrow on the bottom right hand side of the screen
Continue to the next screen by clicking the blue arrow on the bottom right hand side of the screen
If you would like to add a beneficiary to your plan you can do so here, otherwise again click the blue arrow on the bottom right hand side of the screen to continue
Review your enrolment summary and click the check box on the bottom of the screen and click submit!

FINAL STEP

After completing the enrolment click on the “Dependant Payment Page” in the top panel

Select your payment option:

If you have added one dependant select “Pay for Member+1”
If you have added 2 or more dependants select “Pay for Member+2 or more”
Enter your payment information and click process