On premium assistance
Treatment under MSP premium assistance
What MSP (premium assistance) pays for, how long you have, and what to bring to the first visit — with the clinics that bill it directly, where we hold enough of them to compare.
Treatment window10 combined visits per calendar year
What you need to startYour PHN and approved MSP premium assistance.
How MSP premium assistance gets you treated
Check you are approved
Premium assistance is income-tested and applied for separately. MSP can confirm your status.
Book anywhere that bills MSP
The clinics on this page submit the MSP portion for you rather than making you claim it back.
Pay the difference
MSP's contribution comes off the bill at the desk. What is left is the clinic's own price minus that amount.
What MSP (premium assistance) covers
Ten visits a year in total across massage, physiotherapy, chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy and non-surgical podiatry — not ten of each.
- Physiotherapy
- shared 10 visits
- Chiropractic
- shared 10 visits
- Massage therapy
- shared 10 visits
- Acupuncture
- shared 10 visits
- Naturopathic medicine
- shared 10 visits
- Podiatry
- shared 10 visits
- Counselling
- not covered
- Kinesiology
- not covered
- Dietetics
- not covered
- Osteopathy
- not covered
- Speech therapy
- not covered
- Occupational therapy
- not covered
Where you can compare MSP (premium assistance) clinics
These are the cities where we hold enough clinics billing this claim to be worth comparing. The funder works everywhere in the province; our index does not yet.
- VancouverPhysiotherapy12 clinicsMassage therapy10 clinicsAcupuncture8 clinicsChiropractic7 clinicsCounselling6 clinics
- SurreyMassage therapy7 clinicsPhysiotherapy6 clinicsAcupuncture4 clinics
- BurnabyMassage therapy5 clinicsPhysiotherapy3 clinics
- RichmondMassage therapy5 clinicsPhysiotherapy5 clinicsChiropractic4 clinicsAcupuncture3 clinics
- AbbotsfordAcupuncture3 clinicsChiropractic3 clinicsMassage therapy3 clinicsPhysiotherapy3 clinics
- LangleyMassage therapy3 clinics
- Port CoquitlamMassage therapy3 clinics
MSP (premium assistance) claims: what to know
MSP premium assistance is the most misunderstood funding on Ailio: people hear that MSP covers massage or physiotherapy and assume the visit is free. It is not. MSP pays a fixed amount toward ten visits a year across all of the supplementary therapies combined, and the rest of the price is yours.
Because your share is the clinic’s price minus a flat contribution, the cheapest listing genuinely is the cheapest visit — which is not true of any other funder on this site. Sorting by price is the right instinct here.