What is the Alberta Child Health Benefit (ACHB)?
The Alberta Child Health Benefit (ACHB) covers health benefits for children in low-income households. This health plan is for children up to 18 years of age. Children who are 18 or 19 years old also qualify, if they are living at home and attending high school.
Adults may be eligible for health benefits through the Alberta Adult Health Benefit program.
This program provides coverage for:
- dental care
- prescription drugs
- eye glasses
- essential diabetes supplies
- emergency ambulance services
- essential over-the-counter medications
Who is eligible for the Alberta Child Health Benefit?
To be eligible for the Alberta Child Health Benefit (ACHB), you and members of your family must:
- live in Alberta
- be Canadian citizens or have permanent resident status in Canada
- not be receiving health benefits from other government programs:
Why was the Alberta Child Health Benefit created?
The Alberta Child Health benefit was introduced in July 1998. This program includes
coverage for optical and dental services, diabetic supplies, and emergency ambulance
transportation, as well as premium-free prescription drugs. This program was the major
initial allocation of funds made by the province in carrying out its portion of the federal-provincially agreed National Child Benefit (NCB).
Under the NCB, the federal government increased the amount of money it provided to
low-income families with children through the Canada Child Tax Benefit. Provinces then
had the opportunity to reduce their transfer payments to these families by an equivalent amount, so long as the savings were re-invested in other programs that provided benefits to these families. Each province had the flexibility to design the specific programs it would pursue.
Programs in five main areas have been developed: earned income supplements, child/day care initiatives, early childhood services and services for children at risk, supplemental health benefits, and other initiatives. Besides Alberta, Saskatchewan, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Yukon chose to offer some form of publicly-funded prescription drug coverage as part of their re-investment.
Following its introduction, the ACHB program was expanded by: eliminating co-payments (January 1999), which previously ranged from 10-40% depending on family income; and making it sensitive to family size (families with more children were eligible for benefits while having higher net incomes).