Maybe it’s the acoustic cover of “Despacito” playing the background. Maybe it’s the late-night cuddles I received before opening my laptop. Maybe it’s the solemn knowledge that this is likely the last thing I will write in the BCMJ as your president. Whatever the cause, I am in a reflective mood as I consider everything that we have accomplished together this year.

This is a fragile, uneasy time. Unstable markets, privacy breaches, and politicians who treat nuclear codes and human rights like the plot lines of a reality TV show have all created a collective unease. In health care, we’re seeing soaring costs due to bureaucracy, increased needs, and innovations in investigation and treatment. What resources we do have are further stretched by preventable outbreaks of disease due to vaccine misinformation, the replacement of nutrition by a supplement industry worth billions,[1] and mistrust in medication due to Big Pharma scandals.[2]

The GPSC has made changes to some of its fees to enable delegation, simplify billing, and clarify requirements. These changes are part of the GPSC’s continued efforts to support full-service family doctors to improve access to care and services.

Enabling delegation

As part of the service requirements for the GPSC planning fees, doctors may now delegate non-face-to-face planning tasks to College-certified allied care providers working in a GP practice. This change affects the following four GPSC incentives:

As a student on a budget, I love the word free, so I took an inventory of what’s free out there for medical students. I knew that my Doctors of BC membership is free during my 4 years of medical school, but I had forgotten that this includes a free CMA membership, which means free access to handy resources such as RxTx and DynaMed Plus, not to mention various additional deals and discounts.

Navigating the numerous types of insurance out there can be a confusing and even overwhelming process. The layperson’s summary below will hopefully make this a less daunting task. 

Life insurance pays your loved ones a lump sum in the event you pass away before a certain age. For example, Doctors of BC offers plans with a payout of up to $5 000 000 in the event of death before age 75, as well as options to be covered permanently (i.e., until you pass away, at whatever age).