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.

Watch this informative webinar from the PIPSC Compensation Team to learn how your pension is calculated and where you can find the most accurate information about your personal plan.

This webinar is for members of the Public Service Pension Plan, which includes these PIPSC groups:

• Applied Science and Patent Examination (SP)
• Commerce & Purchasing (CP, formerly AV)
• Audit, Financial and Scientific – CRA (AFS)
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA-IN, CFIA-S&A, CFIA-VM)
• Canadian Museum of History (CMH)
• Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN)
• Computer Systems (CS)
• Engineering, Architecture and Land Survey (NR)
• Health Services (SH)
• House of Commons (HoC)
• National Energy Board (NEB), also known as Canada Energy Regulator
• National Film Board (NFB)
• National Gallery of Canada (NGC)
• National Research Council (NRC-RO/RCO, NRC-IS, NRC-LS, NRC-TR)
• Nuclear Regulatory (NUREG)
• Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)
• Research (RE)
• Senate Legislative Clerks (SEN)

Members of the public service pension plan and benefits plans can sign up for a newly launched email notification system.

SIGN UP

This service will provide subscribers with important updates to the Public Service Pension Plan, the Public Service Health Care Plan, the Public Service Dental Plan, the Pensioners’ Dental Plan, and any other important employee or retiree benefit offered by the Treasury Board to federal public servants.

This notification service only provides general updates, not personalized information. If you have questions about your individual account, please review our pensions and benefits page for more information. PIPSC recommends that you consult the Treasury Board benefits information page before making any financial decision with respect to your pension, dental, and healthcare plans.

This new service is available for current and retired PIPSC members who belonged to a Treasury Board pension or benefits plans. If you are employed outside of the federal service, please visit our pensions and benefits page for more information.

You know your pension is important. You work hard now, and your pension is your deferred salary working to protect your future.

But do you completely understand how your pension works? Do you know what type of pension you have? How can we make sure that your pension is going to be there for you when you retire?

In this video our experts from the PIPSC Compensation Team will share how your Public Service Pension works, as well as the basics of retirement security.

You know your pension is important. You work hard now, and your pension is your deferred salary working to protect your future.

But do you completely understand how your pension works? Do you know what type of pension you have? How can we make sure that your pension is going to be there for you when you retire?

In this video our experts from the PIPSC Compensation Team will share how your defined contribution pension plan works, as well as the basics of retirement security.

Please note that in 2023, members at CRPEG, WPEG, and WTEG moved to the CAAT DB plus pension plan -  a variable formula defined benefits pension plan.

If you’re not sure what type of pension you have, visit our pension webpage.

You know your pension is important. You work hard now, and your pension is your deferred salary working to protect your future.

But do you completely understand how your pension works? Do you know what type of pension you have? How can we make sure that your pension is going to be there for you when you retire?

In this video our experts from the PIPSC Compensation Team will share how your target benefit pension plan works, as well as the basics of retirement security.

If you’re not sure what type of pension you have, visit our pension webpage.

The Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) has temporarily extended certain deadlines for buybacks, financial decision making and transfers. This will give members more time to make important decisions about your pensions. The Treasury Board has extended most deadlines by 180 days. The details of the extensions are available on the notice page, along with deadlines that have not been extended.

The PSPP is a defined benefits pension plan that covers most members working in the Core Public Administration and at separate employers.  Members of other pension plans should contact their HR representative for information on their plans.

We have created a new PIPSC Pension Advisory Committee. This committee will consult with members and pension experts to advise the president on the best ways to build, protect, and expand retirement security for our members and people in Canada.

Committee members:

Eric Boucher, Atlantic

Jordan Loverock, BC & Yukon

Lili Mats, Ontario

Michael O’Hare, NCR

Ratish Raghavan, NCR

Committee members were appointed as a result of a union-wide application process. Over 250 members applied to take on this important work. We acknowledge all members who generously offered their time and energy – your ongoing commitment to our collective work is invaluable.

Each application was reviewed by a panel of PIPSC staff and scored against the selection criteria. All personal information was removed for this process. A second panel of Pension and Benefits officers reviewed the top scoring candidates. This team then nominated the highest-scoring applications, with special attention given to ensure the nominees reflect the diversity of our membership.

The Pension Advisory Committee expects to start meeting this autumn to discuss current challenges like retirement security in the era of Covid-19, the Supplemental Death Benefit, and the attacks on the pensions of members at private employers and provincial groups.