In the beginning of the new semester, students are given a choice to pay for medical deduction by email. The medical deduction fee is collected by Student Medical Coverage Union (SMCU) as a medical insurance to bear expenses, which are used to cure injured students while practicing dangerous experiments and in dormitory.
Before 2012, the board of the directors of SMCU consisted of professors, staff and students, so the authority of the union was concentrated to the university itself rather than the students. However, it has changed through two years to only consist of students, which means the authority of the chairman of the board has decreased. By 2013, a staff member from the Office of Undergraduate Student Affairs (OUSA) managed reception and accounts, but from 2014 the role has transferred to an assistant administrator of the Graduate Association. There are several reasons that the union decided to change its policy.
One reason is that students who do not have medical insurance made an argument regarding non-equality in the SMCU return. Furthermore, the act of joining National Health Service and individual health insurance itself weakened the meaning of the operation of SMCU, as the insurance can cover most of the medical fees. It is also inevitable to increase student medical deduction fee because of increasing medical expenses, which could lead to complaints from students. Therefore, the rule of the deduction has changed to requesting medical deduction, which gives some responsibilities to students themselves, and to taking disciplinary action after judgment in the board.
Many students think they can receive medical deductions only during the semester, but they can also get it during summer and winter vacation. In the changed medical deduction policy, it offers total expenses for medical treatment and medicine and 40% of fee for non-insurance consultation to members of the National Health Service, and 80% of fees for consultation to other students, Koreans and foreigners. The process of requesting medical deduction is also very simple. It just requires turning in a hospital receipt within one month after receiving the treatment, with registration form between 10,000 KRW and 200,000 KRW, or with registration form and medical certificate over 200,000 KRW to OUSA. If more than 15 days of treatment for one disease or an operation is necessary, a special request must be made. However, there are some categories exempted from medical deduction, including cosmetic plastic surgeries, consultations for skin care, teeth treatment, visual correction, convalescence diseases (tiredness, vaccination), and purchasing medical instruments. Additional exemptions are traffic accidents for which another person is responsible, alcohol-related accidents, accidents in which the person has no license, and safety accidents resulting from failure to use safety instruments or follow safety procedures. Only fees for treatment, and not for regular check-ups, are accepted. Only fees for consultations to verify officially designated infectious diseases can be offered.
Jun-ho Lee (ME 12), a chairman of SMCU, said ?t is different from changes before in that students?opinions are more strongly considered when operating the union and establishing or revising medical policies under the lead of the student chairmen? It is expected to become a more friendly union to Postechians.