The complaint: Selá made an urgent complaint to our office. When she renewed her driver’s licence, she learned that her Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage would be cancelled in four days. Before asking for help from our office, Selá called Health Insurance BC (HIBC), which runs MSP. Selá believed HIBC made an error after she called them during the pandemic to ask about restrictions on coverage due to some trips out of the province. She thought HIBC may have misunderstood and thought she was leaving the province for a long period of time.

What we did: An HIBC representative explained that it had determined Selá was on an extended absence beginning in 2021, based on the phone call with her. HIBC planned to cancel Selá’s account two years later, which is in line with the allowable extended absence rule. HIBC did not send Selá a letter about the planned cancellation. Its practice is to send a cancellation letter only if the beneficiary requests one.

We reviewed with HIBC ways to improve its service delivery. The notes staff added to Selá’s MSP file made it hard to know what was said during the 2021 call, whether she requested an extended absence or if she had been informed of her future MSP cancellation date. Also, we didn’t think it was fair to ask people to request an MSP cancellation letter, especially when they don’t know they have to request one. HIBC agreed that a better system of note taking was needed. It also agreed that staff training and new instructions would help to prevent similar situations from occurring. HIBC now sends a standard letter if an extended absence is applied on a beneficiary’s MSP account.

How we helped: With Selá’s out-of-province trip dates clarified, HIBC cancelled the extended absence on her account, confirmed active MSP coverage and mailed a BC Services Card to her.
HIBC also agreed to investigate internally other situations where MSP beneficiaries may not be notified about their MSP cancellation. HIBC will share the findings of those investigations with us and we will monitor the settlement.

Why it matters: Selá’s complaint revealed gaps in service delivery and led to improvements in standard procedures. Reviewing internal processes and providing the right training can improve service delivery and prevent unfairness.