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Specific question about health care coverage (Province, BC)

cinvest2021

Star Member
Jan 2, 2021
89
11
Dear all,

Permanent Resident here. I am trying to help a relative of mine. I have an understanding/ interpretation of the issue myself but then I found myself facing some doubts...
Thought it is a good idea to post the question here.

So, the issue is about healthcare coverage in BC province and more specifically it concerns the applicable criteria to maintain coverage plan eligibility vs residency requirements.

So, in order to remain eligible for provincial coverage (medical service plan) it is (as you probably know) required that the beneficiary person maintains a physical presence in BC of at least 6-month in a calendar year, or a shorter prescribed period. That is according to the medical service plan terms and conditions.

So far so good, this is a quite 'common' requirement, what I mean is that this is more or less clear / expected, though I know there are some peculiarities across provinces.

My question pertains to the particular case where the PR has landed in Canada (landing migrant) for the first time, somewhere in the middle of the year.

I will try to illustrate this question by an example, which I hope can be realistic. Let say the schedule is as follows:

- PR Landing date: 15 June 2020
- Waiting period, 3-month, thus say by ~15 September, the person would receives their health card.

My question is as follows:

For the PR to satisfy 6-month of physical presence, the 6-month shall be cumulated within period as:

(A) starting 15 June 2020 (1st landing date) and ending 31 December 2020 (that I suppose the 'calendar' year)
(B) starting 15 June 2020 and ending 15 June 2021 (this I suppose would take into account the landing date, for 1st year coverage)
(C) Or any period else otherwise?


In particular, if the correct answer would be (A), it would mean that the PR holder is left with approx. 15 day to be outside the province or the country (if needed) without losing their coverage as far as 2020 is concerned. Is this understanding correct or am I off the mark?

I hope someone can enlighten me as regards to the applicable criterion in such specific case described.

Thanks in advance!
Kind regards

PS: Please note that this a clarification as to how the criterion applies generally, that is to say outside any COVID circumstances, for which I know special considerations possibly would apply.
 

cinvest2021

Star Member
Jan 2, 2021
89
11
As a corollary to my question... :)

What if a PR would land, say in October 2020, how are the 6 month calculated then? Would it be over a period from 20 Oct 2020 to 20 October 2021?

Thanks again!