Yale Daily News

theres gonna be a lot of graduate students with bad ugly teeth...

why would they offer undergrads dental insurance but not us? doesn't make sense. this is a basic health issue and it's pretty absurd we don't have it. can't we just join undergrads' plan?

because undergrads pay tuition and you dont.

Undergrads don't pay anything, their parents do.

ugh

Go away grad students.

You are irrelevent now and will be forever.

actually grad students do pay tuition. doh.

Look up how to spell 'irrelevent' (sic) and then get back to us before you start going on about who does and does not count at your University (which has more grad students than undergrads, btw).

While many graduate students have their tuition covered by scholarship or another source - so they DO pay tuition - the majority of G&P students are professional students, who pay a significant amount of tuition and then pay interest on it when they graduate and start paying off their loans.

Most peer institutions have dental insurance for their graduate students, so this is also an issue that affects how well Yale can draw the best graduate students, which believe it or not, undergrads, matters for you, too.

Plus, ignoring your teeth in your twenties is a great way to doom your teeth forever. Do we really want a bunch of anthropologists in several hundred years looking at skeletons and saying, "Wow, nasty teeth. Must've been a Yale grad student."

My teeth are sad!

P.S. we must be HOT if the the undergrads continue to chase us around for booty even though we have nasty teeth...

It is in Yale's best interest to offer grad students dental insurance. GESO (the graduate student union that went on strike in 2003, I believe) uses the lack of dental insurance as one of their primary recruiting tactics.

why are grad students treated differently whatsoever by yale's insurance? i don't understand the origins of that policy.

I want a dental option.

There are many graduate students who go YEARS without ever seeing the dentist. I went in last year to get a cleaning and basic x-rays from a local dentist in New Haven and it cost over $200! Given that we are supposed to go twice a year for routine cleanings, you can see how dental work quickly adds up!

I believe that the University does a disservice to its students by not helping them take care of one of their most basic needs. Professional, grad, or undergraduate student status shouldn't matter. We are all a part of Yale University, even if we don't live on campus or have as much of a "presence" as the undergrads.

Please help us get dental care! It will have such an important impact on G&P student life at Yale.

I'm a grad student and I was surprised to find out that yale doesn't offer a dental plan. I'd sign up in a heartbeat.

I've had a lot of dental problems develop over the time I've been at Yale, problems which would have been caught early had I been able to afford care. I am disgusted with Yale's cold shoulder on this issue - I went through horrible pain because I couldn't get a root canal, which is excruciating. I will not be giving a penny to Yale until they start including a comprehensive, mandatory, fully-funded dental plan for all students. Yale students shouldn't have to worry about their health, and there is no difference between dental health and every other kind of health. It must be covered. I remember around 2002 that I could sign up for a $200 dental "insurance" plan which was a joke - and it sounds a lot like the current "plan." It was really a discount program which would cut the cost of a cavity from $125 to $50 and the cost of a root canal/crown by a small fraction - you still had to pay hundreds out of pocket. This is not an option for a penniless student. While I won't be penniless forever, I suffered, and I'm going to remember that for a long, long time. Shame on you Yale. Do the right thing. $300 for a discount plan is not a solution - you're right that no one will sign up for it. It's a joke of a solution.

A dental plan would really be great. Routine visits to the dentist are important, and I know that I would take advantage of such a plan if it existed. I have talked with other graduate and professional students about this and all of them seem interested.

The lack of dental insurance at Yale means that many students go years without getting preventative care. Obviously prevention is the best medicine both to prevent issues like cavities and to increase the likelihood that those small issues are caught and treated before they become bigger and even more costly emergency procedures. Without dental insurance, Yale students are particularly vulnerable.

@Undergrad then Grad - You have no evidence on which to make your assumptions about the dental insurance package being considered. I don't think Yale would approve a similar plan with an equal chance to fail, especially considering the high price tag behind administering the program.

@ys - There is no dental plan for undergrads, but a significant part of the undergrad population is covered on their parents insurance plan, so it's less of an issue.

Many, many graduate students are interested in Dental Insurance. It's important to distinguish that we aren't looking for a free lunch; these costs should be factored into our Financial Aid and other budgetary calculations. But primarily, this care should be available, affordable, and routine. I do not comprehend why Dental Care is a secondary consideration, or treated like a medical second class consideration, for Graduate Students - or for the undergraduates who do not have parental insurance.

A dental plan is quite important. I know that the vast majority of my classmates want a one, and its a shame we don't already have one.