Senior members: BC MSP advice needed urgently

[Dolphin64]

Need Urgent advice from Senior members.

I took Immigration ration in Jun 2010 and landed in BC and filed my papers including for MSP (health card) .

After staying for 14 days, I moved back to India for couple of years. Now, I am residing Toronto for last one year and having a OHIP card from Ontario.

After filing my income tax return, I got a notice from Canada Revenue Agency that I owe a debt to Medical services Plan in BC and I need to settle that before I move on.

My mistake that I did not cancel my MSP plan before moving out BC (after two weeks stay). I do not even have a medical card.

'Non payment of premium does not constitute cancellation of Plan' . Their website clearly says.

I cannot afford to pay 3 years premium in state where I never lived or availed any benefits. Kindly advise how to get this out of the way! What plea should I take in the petition if required.
Thanks!

 

[Leon]

You have to talk to MSP about it. First excuse yourself for not realizing that you had to cancel it, that you were a newcomer to Canada and you signed up for health care as you were told and you had not ever realized that there was a monthly premium. By the way, BC is the only province that has a monthly premium.

You could also bring up the point that since you did not live in BC 180 days a year, you were never eligible for MSP in the first place and should never have gotten it or at the very least you should have lost it 6 months after leaving BC.

Ironically MSP feels they can retroactively cancel peoples health care when it suits them. There was a lady here who posted that she moved to BC, waited 3 months to get health care, had a baby, stayed in BC for 5.5 months total and then went home. She paid her premium however and continued to pay them after she left as she was planning on coming back. BC health retroactively cancelled her health care eligibility because she had not spent 6 months in BC in that first year. The refunded her monthly premiums and charged her over 40,000$ for the birth of her child that they covered. If they can do that when it suits them, they can not bill you for 3 years premiums when you weren't even in the country.