MSP and the BC Services Card: two steps, one system
MSP is B.C.’s public health insurance plan, and every eligible resident must enrol. The BC Services Card is the card you show when you use publicly funded health services. It replaced the old CareCard in 2013, and it is also government photo ID that you can use, for example, when opening a bank account.
People often search for the card first, but the order matters. You apply for MSP, Health Insurance BC (HIBC) assigns you a Personal Health Number (PHN), and then you get the card. There are three types: a combined BC Driver’s Licence and Services Card, a Photo BC Services Card, and a Non-Photo BC Services Card. Any of them works for health services.
Who is eligible for MSP
A resident for MSP purposes is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who makes their home in B.C. and is physically present in B.C. for at least six months in a calendar year. Tourists and visitors are not residents.
Some temporary residents are deemed residents and can enrol too:
- Holders of a work permit valid for six months or longer, including working holiday permits.
- Holders of a study permit valid for six months or longer.
- Your spouse, your minor children and dependent full-time post-secondary students older than 18 and younger than 25, if they live in B.C.
- A spouse or child of an eligible resident who has submitted a permanent residence application to IRCC and paid the required fees in full.
- People on maintained status waiting for a new work or study permit, if they were already enrolled in MSP (see the permit section below).
The MSP wait period and its exceptions
New and returning residents must complete a wait period before MSP covers them. It is the rest of the month in which you become a B.C. resident, plus two more months. If you arrive on March 10, for example, the rest of March plus April and May make up the wait, so coverage begins June 1. The Ministry of Health decides your residency date, and it depends partly on your immigration status. If you arrive as a visitor and later get a status that qualifies, your wait starts from that later date.
Each family member has their own wait period based on their own arrival date. You can add family members to your account after they arrive.
The wait does not apply to discharged Canadian Armed Forces members or to spouses and children of Armed Forces members. There is also a waiver for eligible returning Canadians, permanent residents and deemed residents arriving from Ukraine. Other new permanent residents and returning Canadians do serve the wait. You can ask for a waiver in other cases, but B.C. approves waivers only in the most serious and exceptional cases, you must already be found eligible for MSP, and the health costs during the wait must have been financially devastating.
How to apply for MSP
Apply as soon as you arrive. Do not wait until the end of your wait period, because applying early gives HIBC time to process your file. The B.C. Application for Health and Drug Coverage lets you apply for MSP, Supplementary Benefits and Fair PharmaCare at the same time. If your coverage will come through an employer, union or pension group plan, ask your group administrator instead.
- Gather ID for everyone on the application: proof of name, date of birth and citizenship or immigration status. Work and study permits must be valid for six months or longer. Add a marriage certificate or name change certificate if your legal name does not match your ID.
- Apply online (it takes about 15 minutes), by mail with the Application for Enrolment form HLTH 101, or in person at any Service BC location.
- For online applications, upload each document as a JPG or PNG (not a PDF), at least 1000 by 1500 pixels, showing the whole document, in focus and the right way up.
- Wait for your Personal Health Number and card. Permanent residents and citizens aged 18 and a half or older then complete enrolment at ICBC, as described below.
Getting your BC Services Card at ICBC
To complete MSP enrolment, adults who applied as Canadian citizens or permanent residents must get a Photo BC Services Card at an ICBC driver licensing office. You can book an appointment or walk in. At the office you provide two pieces of ID, one primary and one secondary, declare that you are a B.C. resident, and have your photo taken. The card is free. If you combine it with your driver’s licence, the normal licence fees apply.
Temporary document holders, such as work and study permit holders, and anyone under 18 and a half automatically receive a Non-Photo BC Services Card in the mail from HIBC. No ICBC visit is needed for that card.
- ICBC needs originals or a true copy certified by the government agency that issued the document.
- Documents in a language other than English must be translated by an ICBC-approved translator. This includes documents in French.
- If you were born outside Canada, ICBC uses the name on your most recent immigration document, such as your permit, PR card or citizenship certificate.
- If your name has changed, bring proof of the change.
Covering the gap before MSP starts
You can get medical and hospital care in B.C. during the wait period, but you pay the full cost unless you have other insurance, and B.C. warns these costs can be very high. If you come from outside Canada, arrange private health insurance before you arrive and keep it until MSP starts. Most private insurers do not cover pre-existing conditions, including pregnancy, so read the policy before you buy.
If you move from another province, keep your former province’s plan during the wait. Family members who have not arrived yet should keep their existing coverage. In an emergency, no one is denied essential medical care.
One more point for new arrivals: if you leave B.C. within six months of enrolling, you may have to repay your medical expenses.
Permit expiry, maintained status and renewal
If you are enrolled in MSP on a work or study permit, your coverage ends when the permit expires. Apply for your new permit as early as possible. A gap can mean losing coverage and serving another wait period.
If you applied for a new permit before your old one expired and you are on maintained status, you may get an initial six months of temporary coverage, with more if needed, as long as you were already enrolled in MSP. Send HIBC your IRCC receipt showing you applied before the expiry date. If you ask four weeks or more after your permit expired, also send proof from IRCC that your application is still active.
When you get a new permit or become a permanent resident, upload the document through the online MSP Account Change Request form. It takes about 15 minutes, and HIBC asks you to allow 21 business days for processing. When you renew your BC Services Card, you also renew your MSP enrolment.
Common mistakes and where to get help
The most costly mistakes are arriving without private insurance for the wait period, applying late, letting a permit lapse, and forgetting to update your address so the student fee invoices go missing. Online applications are often slowed by blurry or partial photos of documents, or by PDFs, which are not accepted.
For questions about eligibility or enrolment, call Health Insurance BC at 604-683-7151 in the Lower Mainland or 1-800-663-7100 elsewhere in B.C. To report a lost Photo BC Services Card, call ICBC at 1-800-950-1498. For a lost Non-Photo card, call HIBC. B.C. offers help in over 220 languages.
We don't provide legal opinions; for advice on your file, contact an RCIC-verified consultant or a lawyer.