After 3 years of stalling, the Treasury Board has finally come to the table to begin discussing changes to the Public Service Health Care Plan (PSHCP). The plan has not been meaningfully updated since 2006.
In collaboration with other unions and retiree representatives, we have presented our proposal to the employer. Our recommendations, as summarized below, are based on the suggestions you provided over the years as well as from a 2018 member survey.
- Promotes health & wellness through evidence-based medical care and plan design
- Increase travel and health practitioner coverage to correspond to typical treatment requirements
- Introduce Occupational Therapists and Nutritionists
- Expand the psychologist benefit to cover registered counsellors, social workers, sexologists and psychotherapists
- Provides comprehensive coverage to care for members in difficult life situations
- Increase hospital and private nursing coverage and introduction of rehabilitation and convalescent care
- Expand durable product coverage (hearing aids, insulin injectors, CPAP, wheelchairs, etc) and a dedicated repair allowance
- Introduce medical cannabis where supported by clinical evidence
- Add more coverage for various medical products and treatments
- Innovates with digital tools, industry partnerships, new technologies, and preventative care
- Lower the out-of-pocket maximum for medication
- Leverage the plan’s size to obtain preferred pricing for certain medical services and products (such as contact lenses and maintenance drugs)
- Remove the prescription requirement for certain practitioners and physician requirement for acupuncture to encourage proactive, preventative care
- Adopts a long term vision of sustainable, efficient, and affordable health care that delivers top value to current members, retired members, and the Canadian public
- Expand direct billing to reduce plan member and administrative costs
- Adopt prescription optimization measures to lower payment to pharmacies without affecting member cost
- Integrate administrative best practices to greatly reduce administrative and drug costs without compromising member experience
The PSHCP is an employer-sponsored health care plan for current and retired federal public service employees and their families. Every 5 years, this plan is reviewed by the Treasury Board. Benefits for public service workers are not negotiable under the law, so PIPSC and its partners play an active advisory role during this review, bringing forward your suggestions and concerns.