Faxing a health insurer
Health data on paper again: the number must come from the plan, not from a search engine.
In Canada, basic health coverage comes from your province or territory — OHIP in Ontario, the Medical Services Plan in British Columbia, the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan and so on — while extended health benefits come from private insurers such as Sun Life, Manulife or Canada Life, usually through an employer. Fax is still widely used for special-authority drug requests, prior-approval forms and some claims, often sent by the prescriber’s office. If you send a form yourself, take the number from the form or the plan’s official site, quote your health card or plan member number, and keep any diagnosis off the cover page.
Why a health insurer still takes faxes
Drug coverage programs and benefits providers receive forms from physicians, pharmacists and clinics across the country, and fax is a channel nearly all of those senders can use. Several provincial drug-coverage forms are designed to be faxed by the prescriber.
For members, fax can be the quickest way to return a signed claim form or a document the insurer has asked for when no upload is offered. It is not the right route for routine claims that the insurer’s app handles in minutes.
Where to find the right number
- The form itself: special-authority and prior-approval forms usually print the fax number of the unit that reviews them.
- Your provincial ministry of health website, or your insurer’s member site, under contact or forms.
- The plan’s member services line, or your employer’s benefits administrator, to confirm the correct unit.
What the cover page should say
- The plan or insurer and the unit (drug coverage, claims, prior approval).
- The member’s name, date of birth and health card or plan and certificate numbers.
- A line reading “Confidential — for the named unit only”, with no medical details.
- The subject and the total page count.
The record to keep
Keep the transmission report and the PDF, then check in your member account or by phone that the form was received. Note the date you sent it so you can follow up if no decision arrives within the timeframe the plan states.
Other channels, sometimes better
Your insurer’s app or member site
Most extended-benefit claims, receipts included, are submitted online, with the reimbursement paid by direct deposit.
Your prescriber or pharmacist
Special-authority requests are normally sent by the prescriber; asking them to submit it avoids missing clinical details.
Provincial online services
Several provinces let you renew or update your health coverage online; check your ministry’s site before sending paper.
Other recipients
- A review letter, a reassessment, a request for receipts: your SIN and the letter’s reference do the sorting.
- An application, proof of age, a direct-deposit change: one wrong SIN and the file stalls.
- For a lost card, call; for paperwork, a clearly referenced fax may still be welcome.
- Admissions offices sort thousands of files: your application number decides where the page lands.
Faxing a public body
In this section
Where to go next
Hand-picked pages to help you prepare, send or prove your fax.