Demystifying health coverage
Often referred to as insurance or a benefit plan, your health coverage protects
you from the high, out-of-pocket costs of health care by spreading, or sharing,
financial risk.
Insurance can help you pay part or all of your expenses related to illness or injuries,
when you see a health care professional, spend time in a hospital or purchase health
care products and services. The idea is simple; a large number of people pay into
a fund and when one of them has expenses, he or she is reimbursed some or all of
the expenses by the fund.
In Canada, health care is paid for by both public (government) and private payers (employers, unions, associations, trusts and by you, the plan member), who purchase coverage from a benefit provider like Pacific Blue Cross / BC Life.
Understanding how health insurance works can be challenging. We want to help you
demystify your health coverage so we‘ve assembled some useful information based
on common questions we hear from people looking to purchase coverage and from our plan members every day.
The more you know, the more you can make your insurance plan work for you.