British Columbians have another year to obtain a non-photo B.C. Services health care card while the province tries to fix problems plaguing applicants with conflicting names on their government-issued documents.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the government is working to address problems for people who have different names on their Medical Services Plan card and birth certificate or driver’s licence, for example.
The new B.C. Services card is being issued to replace the Medical Services Plan card, also known as the Care Card.
“It is not an easy problem to solve at a technical level but I think they are getting at some solutions. We felt an extension was in order,” Dix said.
“We may not be able to solve everybody’s problem, but I believe we are working hard to solve it for the majority of people who have problems.”
The B.C. Services card was announced in 2013, when the B.C. Liberals were governing, as an important new piece of government-issued identification with more security features and, unlike the Care Card, an expiry date.
The project required all British Columbians to re-enrol in the Medical Services Plan over five years, tying it to the renewal of driver’s licences. It was part of an effort to weed out cards that shouldn’t be used — cards issued to people who have died or have left the province, for example.
The cards are being issued in three ways: driver’s licence combined with photo B.C. Services card, separate photo cards for driver’s licence and B.C. Services, and non-photo B.C. Services card. Non-photo cards are issued to people having trouble meeting identification requirements.
Prior to the deadline extension, British Columbians were supposed to have new cards by March 1.
Just over 4.3 million residents have received the B.C. Services card — representing about 90 per cent of Medical Services Plan beneficiaries, the Health Ministry said.
“But it’s a significant number of people who haven’t and that’s for different reasons — not for all issues with names but a significant portion have issues with names — and we’d like to see those resolved because this is an important program,” Dix said.
Some people whose health care cards have a name that is different from their so-called “foundation name” — usually the one on a birth certificate — were told they either had to change their legal name to reconcile the difference or were issued non-photo B.C. Services cards.
This practice is being extended to March 1, 2019, while the Health Ministry, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. and the Ministry of Citizens’ Services work out technical, legal and policy problems.
“The last government absolutely failed to do this,” Dix said. “I think this is the right decision, to make the extension and get it right.”
Dix, NDP MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway, said it’s been a “really significant” issue for people in his ethnically diverse riding.
“People adopt names like Ken or Bob that aren’t their foundational names but have used them on their driver’s licences for a very long time,” Dix said. “What we are looking at is different solutions without them having to go through expensive name changes in most cases.”
Hazel Braithwaite, who legally changed her name in order to get the new card, applauded the deadline extension.
“I’m hoping it’s going to help people so they won’t have to jump through all the hoops that I had to, to get the proper piece of identification, and maybe it won’t cost as much for them as it did for me,” said Braithwaite, an Oak Bay municipal councillor.
About two years ago, when Braithwaite was renewing her driver’s licence, she was invited to combine it with the new B.C. Services health card.
However, the Hazel Braithwaite on her driver’s licence wasn’t an exact match to the Hazel Short Braithwaite on her Care Card and passport. The passport included her maiden name as a middle name after she got married in Alberta in 1985.
“Because those two names didn’t match, they wouldn’t give me my MSP card on my driver’s licence,” she said. She was told she needed proof of a legal name change. Documents with conflicting names can’t be combined. “It was a crazy problem for me,” Braithwaite said.
A legal name change involved a criminal record check, including fingerprinting. She ended up spending $70 for a record check and $154 for a legal name change, on top of the $75 for the combined driver’s licence and B.C. Services card.
