The B.C. government is planning to significantly reduce monthly Medical Service Plan premiums for single parents next year, but it’s far less relief than critics have been calling for.
The province has confirmed it intends to stop charging premiums for children in January 2017, a move that will cut monthly fees in half for many single parents.
Currently, single parents who make more than $30,000 and have one child pay $136, while single parents with two or more children pay $150.
Under the new plan, all single parents would be paying $75 – a welcome break to people like Vancouver mom Melanie Barker.
“I’m working and I can barely make ends meet,” Barker said. “Extra money goes straight into me buying groceries. I barely buy anything extra.”
But that relief is still a far cry from what many in the province have seeking: an overhauled system that ties fees to personal incomes. Right now, premiums are only scaled down for people who make $30,000 a year or less.
Viveca Ellis of the Single Mothers Alliance of B.C. said the current MSP premiums are unfair, and the government should be doing more to address that.
“We have a system in British Columbia that charges the same premium whether you make [$30,001] or $300,000,” Ellis said.
Thousands of people have signed online petitions calling on Premier Christy Clark to tie MSP to income, but the government has shown no interest in the plan.
In a statement, the province said income taxes already raise $8.1 billion for MSP, while premiums contribute about $2.4 billion. The overall cost of healthcare in B.C. is forecast to exceed $19 billion this year.
Full details of the government’s plan will be coming in next month’s budget.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Bhinder Sajan
