2008 Woodie Awards
Students must seek own dental insurance, care
Kate Augusto
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: News
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"I get my teeth cleaned at home. My check-ups usually come up while I'm at home anyway. If you live far away you might want [access to dental care] while you're here though," said Dyani Williams, a sophomore undeclared major.
Dahlia Hilaril, a sophomore economics major, agrees that it is a good idea for Northeastern to offer dental insurance.
"If you wanted to increase the number of international students [on campus] it would be a good idea to offer [dental insurance]," said Hilaril, who also gets her teeth cleaned when she goes home.
But Burns said most student healthcare plans don't include dental, and when students had the option of buying a dental plan at Northeastern about two years ago, few took advantage.
"There was less than 10 percent participation [in the dental plan] and there was minimal coverage through it," Burns said.
Christopher Bourne, vice president for student affairs for the Student Government Association, is meeting with Burns and Roberta Berrien, executive director of UHCS, sometime in the upcoming weeks to review the student health plan and look at improving it. He will also be forming a committee to help him with these goals.
Adding a dental coverage plan is one way Bourne would like to improve the current Northeastern University Student Healthcare Plan (NUSHP), which is now administered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
"If NUSHP is a student's primary health care plan, it's important that they have dental insurance," Bourne said.
Jaime Klein, a sophomore visual arts major, said offering dental insurance is not necessary.
"Needing it is kind of a stretch. If something [major] happens [to your teeth] then you'd want it, but that's not common enough for the school to offer it," Klein said.
Harris said even if the school added a dental coverage plan, the number of students who received dental care would stay the same.
"Given the way human nature is … people that are conscientious about tooth care will be conscientious about tooth care and those folks who aren't, aren't," Harris said. "It wouldn't matter that much [if there was dental insurance available]."
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