People in British Columbia recovering from vehicle accidents will see increased coverage amounts for many health-care practitioners as the Province makes improvements to Enhanced Accident Benefits paid by Insurance Corporation of BC (ICBC).

Effective May 1, 2025, changes to regulations under the Insurance (Vehicle) Act will increase the amounts that ICBC pays for many health-care services. These increases are based on a review of accident benefit amounts for accidents that occurred before May 1, 2021. Reviews occur every five years, as required under the act.

The Province will undertake a comprehensive and independent review of enhanced care in 2026 to ensure people are receiving the high-quality health care and supports they need when recovering from a vehicle crash. This increase is an interim measure to help address increased costs of health services.

Rates are being adjusted for the following health-care services: acupuncture, chiropractic, counselling, massage therapy, occupational therapy, physicians and psychology. For consistency, the updated rates also apply to health-care services for accidents that happened before and after May 1, 2021. Changes were informed by consultations with health-care associations.

For people injured on or after May 1, 2021, additional improvements are being made to Enhanced Accident Benefits:

• Family members may be eligible for as much as $4,440 in one-on-one counselling support when a loved one’s injuries are severe or significantly affect them, building on the group counselling that is currently covered.
• ICBC will become the first payer for expenses related to covered prostheses and orthoses and medical equipment, making the claims process faster and simpler.
• The reimbursement rate for reasonable and necessary travel to receive covered services or rehabilitation will increase to 66 cents/kilometre, which is the same rate ICBC pays health-care providers who travel to injured patients.

There will be no increases to basic insurance rates as a result of these changes.

Housekeeping updates to regulations also remove outdated rules and make minor technical changes.

The last regulatory review of health-care service rates was in 2019 as part of the Rate Affordability Action Plan. At that time, the Province introduced two measures to ensure rates continued to reflect the reasonable cost of services:

• Rates are subject to an annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment.
• Benefit amounts set by regulation are subject to a five-year regulatory review cycle.

A backgrounder follows.