MSP in BC (full time student and no job but billed $600+)

[waleedhk]

Hi,
I have a quick question: I have never received MSP bill until today and it was $530 in unpaid charges while $69.25 for the upcoming month. The question is if i never had a job in this or the previous year (i have been volunteering but no job) because I am a full time student at a university, would I be liable to pay all those charges or should i call them up and let them know about my situation.

Please reply.

Thank you

 

[Leon]

BC is the only province that charges a monthly fee for health care. Not paying it doesn't make it go away.

If you go to http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/msp/infoben/premium.html there is a section about Premium assistance. You can check that out to see if you qualify.

 

[waleedhk]

@leon the table below says if you are in $0-$22000 income range then you don't pay anything. What is that about then?

 

[Leon]

@ leon the table below says if you are in $0-$22000 income range then you don't pay anything. What is that about then?

If you read the website (link above) it says:

Regular Premium Assistance

Effective January 1, 2010, the Regular Premium Assistance program was enhanced to allow more British Columbians to qualify and to allow persons already receiving a partial subsidy to qualify for a higher level of assistance.

Regular Premium Assistance offers five levels of subsidies. This is based on an individual's net income (or a couple's combined net income) for the preceding tax year, less deductions for age, family size, disability and any reported Universal Child Care Benefit and Registered Disability Savings Plan Income. The resulting amount is referred to as "adjusted net income". See the Monthly Premium Rates chart below for details of Regular Premium Assistance rates.
To apply for Regular Premium Assistance, you need to complete and return an Application for Regular Premium Assistance.
If you believe you may have qualified for assistance in recent years but didn’t make application, Regular Premium Assistance may be provided retroactively to a maximum of six years from the date on which a request is received. If it appears you are eligible, you will need to provide photocopies of Notices of Assessment/Re-Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency which show your net income for the relevant tax years. If you are married or living in a marriage-like relationship, photocopies of your spouse’s Notices of Assessment/Re-Assessment will also be required.

So the table is showing the premiums based on income for people who are eligible for premium assistance and have applied for it. If you think you qualify, go ahead and apply.

 

[waleedhk]

Thanks for the help leon. I believe I am qualified for it as I didn't had any income this year. Would there be anyway to get a credit memo from them to remove the unpaid bill because I didn't know about this regular premium assistance program of theirs otherwise i would have applied for it. do you believe they will be willing to clear the bill?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Leon]

Thanks for the help leon. I believe I am qualified for it as I didn't had any income this year. Would there be anyway to get a credit memo from them to remove the unpaid bill because I didn't know about this regular premium assistance program of theirs otherwise i would have applied for it. do you believe they will be willing to clear the bill?

Thanks a bunch!

If you read above, it says "Regular Premium Assistance may be provided retroactively to a maximum of six years from the date on which a request is received." so if you do apply and they find that you are eligible for the year of 2013, they will erase that bill.

They also say on the website that in order to be eligible, you need to be either a citizen or a PR who has lived in Canada for at least 12 months and you must have filed taxes so they can verify your income. If you think you qualify, go ahead and apply and see what happens.

 

[waleedhk]

Thanks Leon for your help. I should had read the page completely but as usual I started asking questions instead of reading the information page, gotta work on my habits. And I would also like to thank you for your help that I had with my fathers PRC (even though he didnt meet the requirements we sent an application to get the PRC renewed which brought him under the radar- it worked out fine).

You would make a great consultant right now although I would suggest you to study law and become a immigration lawyer because you got potential.

Thanks again

 

[Leon]

Thanks for the nice words but I like doing this as a hobby. I think it would get boring if I started doing it for a living. Too old to study law at this point