Legislation is being tightened to allow greater recovery of health-care costs caused by wrongdoers, to further ensure these costs fall on them and not people in British Columbia.

The Health Care Costs Recovery Act, which was brought into force in 2009, allows government to recover the costs of health-care services provided to Medical Services Plan (MSP) beneficiaries who have been injured or have died due to the negligence of a wrongdoer. These changes will ensure that government is able to recoup costs that are otherwise borne by taxpayers.

The act has been largely successful, with financial recoveries varying annually. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, approximately $6.6 million was recovered.

However, some aspects of the act currently prevent government from recovering health-care costs to the fullest extent possible. The proposed legislative amendments aim to address the gaps.

The amendments will:

• narrow the circumstances in which the act does not apply because the beneficiary was injured in the course of their work;
• lengthen the window of time during which a claim can be amended to include a health services claim;
• expand disclosure obligations for defendants and their insurers;
• define who counts as an “insurer” under the act to ensure that self-insured and mutual defence organizations must provide notice to the Province and information needed to assist cost recovery;
• clarify the effect of liability waivers;
• require that the Province be notified when a third-party defendant is added to the legal proceedings, and automatically include a health-care costs claim against the third-party defendant when this happens;
• extend limitation periods to ensure the Province has time to begin legal proceedings after being informed of a claim; and
• allow pre-judgment interest to be collected from defendants.

The Health Care Costs Recovery Act does not apply to motor-vehicle accidents where a wrongdoer is insured by ICBC, to opioid or tobacco-related wrongs or to injuries in the course of work if the beneficiary is entitled to compensation through WorkSafeBC, because these situations are addressed through other legislations.