This article by Maurice Oishi is reprinted by permission
from At Guelph, newspaper of the University of Guelph.
     
     The Ontario Ministry of Health has confirmed rumors that it
is considering cutting OHIP coverage to international students.
     At a meeting last month arranged by the Canadian Federation
of Students-Ontario (CFS-O), ministry officials told
international student representatives and advisers that the
proposed elimination of coverage was a costcutting measure. The
cuts could affect as many as 250 undergraduates and 300 graduate
students at U of G.
     Rumors of the potential policy change have circulated since
last April, says Kadi Mbanefo, a biological science
undergraduate student from Nigeria who attended the meeting.
"They didn't really tell us anything that we hadn't already
heard," says Mbanefo, who is the Central Student Association's
internal commissioner.
     The December meeting was the first time that international
students were made privy to the rumored amendments in policy,
Mbanefo says. But the government said it had completed a round
of consultation with the Ministry of Education and Training,
other min-istries and representatives from the health insurance
industry. The ministry also added that it will expand
consultation, likely using the CFS-O as a liaison with
international students, Mbanefo says.
     According to ministry representative David Jensen, no
official statement about the proposed policy change has been
made, and "there's no clear sense of when this decision might
take place." He added that OHIP coverage of foreign workers and
those applying for landed-immigrant status, as well as their ac
companying families, might also be rescinded. These decisions
will be made in the shadow of a recent policy that will shift
medical coverage of refugee claimants into federal hands.
     In a Dec. 15 letter to Minister of Health Ruth Grier,
Mbanefo, President Mordechai Rozanski and Graduate Students'
Association president Rick Smith outlined U of G's opposition to
the changes.
     They told Grier that withdrawing coverage is "tantamount to
a breach of an unwritten contract" between the government and
international students, who come to Ontario with the
understanding that support services will be available to them.
     The letter also noted that international students and their
families contribute to the Ontario economy and to the cultural
life of the province. "To deny them access to our public health-
care system, which they themselves help fund, would simply be
unjust." It would also be "foolish in the extreme" to make them
unwelcome at Ontario universities.
     While living in Ontario, international students are
required to pay taxes and contribute to UIC and the Canada
Pension Plan. At the same time, differential fees mean they pay
roughly four times the tuition of Canadian students.
     Smith notes that more than 20 per cent of U of G's graduate
students are international students, the highest per capita
population among Ontario universities. The cut in OHIP coverage
is "targeted at people who are generally pretty vulnerable," he
says. "It's like saying: 'We'll take your money, but we won't
help you with your medical needs.'"
     Jeffrey Holmes, vice-president for research and services
for the Ottawa-based Canadian Bureau for International
Education, has actively lobbied against the move. He speaks
cautiously of the forthcoming government decision. "On the one
hand, we're for the status quo, so we don't want to push them
into a decision. But on the other hand, we'd like to `know as
soon as possible so that we can tell those affected and help
them make alternative arrangements if need be."
     U of G will have to await the ministry's decision before it
can begin to investigate alternative coverage, says Vic Reimer,
manager of compensation and benefits in Human Resources. He
notes that roughly half of Guelph's international students have
visas, allowing them to work on campus. Whether this status will
affect their coverage is uncertain.
     The Student-Health Advisory Committee - which will help
investigate alternative coverage should the need arise - has
also not taken any action in pursuing alternatives, says
committee chair Prof. Bob Winkel, Physics.
     Until the government makes a decision, international
students will continue to "wait with bated breath," says
Mbanefo. Rising tuition fees have already raised his anxiety
level and his skepticism. The government's invitation to
participate in the consultation seems an afterthought, he says.
     "Now that the story is out of the bag, they're trying to
contact us," he says. "It sounds like they're simply trying to
placate us."