If you, a loved one, or a patient are looking to age in your/their own home rather than in an aged-care facility, you may be eligible for healthcare funding from both federal and provincial governments in Canada and BC for any medical equipment/services you require.

However, the type of funding you or someone else are eligible for changes after age 65. To help you simplify and understand these changes, read on and find out more about BC’s home health care funding scheme.

Disability Assistance and Healthcare Funding in BC

People living with a disability UNDER the age of 65 are eligible to receive healthcare funding from the federal government by registering as a Person with A Disability (PWAD). Disability Assistance is intended to help people who have made enough contributions to the Canada Pension Plan (see below) and who are disabled and cannot work at any job on a regular basis.

To qualify for a CPP disability benefit, you must:

• have a severe and prolonged disability
  • According to the Ministry of Social Development and Innovation, a severe disability is “a mental or physical disability that regularly stops you from doing any type of substantially gainful work.” A prolonged disability is a disability that “is long-term and of indefinite duration or is likely to result in death.”
• be under the age of 65
• meet the CPP contribution requirements.

For 2015, the average monthly CPP disability benefit was $928.08 and the maximum monthly payment was $1,264.59. Applicants will receive the basic monthly amount fixed for all recipients ($465.84), plus an amount based on how much they contributed to the CPP during their entire working career.

Once you turn 65, you will LOSE your disability assistance. However, to compensate for this loss, most PWADs will be eligible to receive one of the following financial benefits:

Old Age Security Pension:

The Old Age Security (OAS) pension is a monthly payment available to most Canadians 65 years of age who meet the Canadian legal status and residency requirements. It is the federal government’s largest pension program, and is funded out of its general revenues.

The Old Age Security Pension is available to Canadian citizens living both inside and outside of the country, and is NOT dependent of your work history. This means you can receive the OAS even if you have never worked or are still working.

To be eligible for the OAS while LIVING IN CANADA, you must:

• be 65 years old or older
• be a Canadian citizen or a legal resident at the time your Old Age Security pension application is approved, and
• have resided in Canada for at least 10 years after turning 18.

To be eligible for the OAS while LIVING OUTSIDE OF CANADA, you must:

• be 65 years old or older
• have been a Canadian citizen or a legal resident of Canada on the day before they left Canada, and
• have resided in Canada for at least 20 years after turning 18.

As of July 2013, applicants are able to defer receiving their Old Age Security pension for up to five years. In doing so, their monthly payment will be increased by 0.6% for every month they delayed receiving the OAS up to a maximum of 36% at age 70.

The monthly payment amount will be determined by how long an applicant lived in Canada after the age of 18. From April to June 2013, the maximum OAS pension amount was $546.07, but this may vary depending on each individual’s circumstances.

OAS benefits are adjusted quarterly (in January, April, July and October) if there are increases in the cost of living as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Canada Pension Plan (CPP):

The Canada Pension Plan provides a partial replacement of earnings in the case of retirement, disability or death and operates throughout Canada, except in Quebec, where the Quebec Pension Plan provides similar benefits.

To be eligible for the CPP, you must:

• be at least a month past your 59th birthday;
• have worked in Canada and made at least one valid contribution to the CPP; and
• want your CPP retirement pension payments to begin within 12 months.

The Canada Pension is generally received at 65, but applicants can begin receiving a reduced pension from the age of 60. If they decide to take their pension at age 60, the applicant’s monthly payment will be reduced by roughly 0.5% to 0.6% for each month it was received BEFORE the age of 65.

If an applicant takes their pension after age 65, their monthly payment amount will increase by 0.7 percent for each month that they delayed receiving their pension up until age 70 (8.4% per year).

While the monthly payment amount for the CPP depends on how much and how long the applicant has been contributing to the pension, the average amount paid to new beneficiaries in 2015 was $629.33. The maximum monthly payment amount was $1,092.50.

Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS):

The Guaranteed Income Supplement provides a monthly non-taxable benefit to recipients of the Old Age Security pension who have a low income and are LIVING in Canada. To be eligible to receive this benefit, applicants must:

• be receiving the Old Age Security pension, and
• earn less than $17,303.99 for singles, widowed, or divorced applicants, or $22,847.99 for couples, per year (excluding their OAS and GIS).

Please note: This information may change. Please contact Government of Canada, the Ministry of Social Development and Innovation, Vancouver Coastal Health, or your nearest health authority for more information on any of the above funding plans.

For more information on home health care funding, click here (link to MHHC funding directory).