How to get a hospital bed, wheelchair or lift in BC: Red Cross, MEPP, PWD, VAC, WorkSafeBC, extended health — and when buying used is the answer

Programs change their rules. Everything here was checked in September 2026 against the programs' own pages, which are linked at the end; confirm with the program before you rely on it.

MSP and PharmaCare

The Medical Services Plan covers physician and hospital services, not equipment. PharmaCare covers drugs and some medical supplies, but not mobility equipment: it will not pay for a hospital bed, a wheelchair, a lift chair or a patient lift. People are often surprised by this, and it is the reason the used market exists.

Canadian Red Cross Health Equipment Loan Program (HELP)

The Red Cross lends equipment short-term across BC in two tiers.

• Basic Short Term Program. Basic aids — wheelchairs, walkers, commodes, bath benches, raised toilet seats, bed handles, canes, crutches — generally for up to three months, on a donation basis. You need a referral from a regulated health professional (physician, nurse, OT, PT, chiropractor), and you can go directly to a Red Cross depot with a private-practice referral.
• Advanced Short Term Program (formerly HELP Plus). Hospital beds, specialty mattresses and patient lifts, with delivery and installation. This tier is only accessible through the health authority's MEPP in participating regions — you cannot walk into a depot and borrow a bed.

Vancouver Island depots, per the Red Cross's own location list (updated February 2026), include Victoria (909 Fairfield Road, 250-382-2043), Nanaimo (#3-2525 McCullough Road, 250-756-9363), Duncan (3287B Cowichan Lake Road), Courtenay (10-2683 Moray Avenue) and Campbell River (#140-520 Second Avenue), plus Port Alberni, Ladysmith, Lake Cowichan, Salt Spring, Port Hardy and Port Alice. Hours vary; phone first.

Island Health's Medical Equipment Provision Program (MEPP)

MEPP provides short-term rentals — up to three months — of walkers, wheelchairs and hospital beds for people who are in financial hardship, have no other funder (extended health, VAC, ICBC, WorkSafeBC, the Ministry), live in a private home or assisted living rather than long-term care, and have a referral from a health-care provider such as an occupational or physical therapist or a nurse. It is the route to the Red Cross's advanced equipment. Ask the person's care team or discharge planner whether they qualify.

The gap MEPP leaves is deliberate: it is for short, urgent needs among people who cannot pay. Someone who needs a bed for a year, or who does not meet the hardship test, has to buy or rent privately.

Disability assistance: the BCEA medical equipment benefit

If the person receives disability assistance (PWD) or income assistance from the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, the BC Employment and Assistance medical equipment benefit can fund equipment, with limits. Its policy manual lists, for example, a hospital bed to a maximum of $3,000 and a backup manual wheelchair to $1,500. Requirements include a prescription from a physician or nurse practitioner, an assessment by an occupational or physical therapist, pre-approval before purchase, and showing that other funding has been exhausted. Palliative clients are generally served instead through the BC Palliative Care Benefits Program via the health authority. Ask the person's ministry worker or therapist to start the request.

Veterans Affairs Canada

Eligible veterans can have equipment funded under VAC's treatment benefits. Two examples from VAC's benefit grid: a power lift chair to a limit of $1,800, one per five years, with a prescription from a physician, nurse practitioner, physiotherapist or nurse; and purchase of a hospital bed with a physician's prescription, where simpler equipment has been considered first. Local dealers note that VAC typically wants an OT letter, a physician's note and two quotes. We can provide a quote and an itemised invoice.

WorkSafeBC and ICBC

For an accepted WorkSafeBC claim, medical supplies including manual and power wheelchairs, hospital beds and pressure-relief mattresses, lifts and slings and bathroom aids can be covered, and all of it must be pre-approved. ICBC covers equipment needs arising from a motor vehicle accident under its care benefits; the details depend on the claim, so ask the adjuster before buying.

Extended health plans

Pacific Blue Cross, Sun Life, Manulife, Canada Life and the rest usually include durable medical equipment, with a percentage covered, an annual or lifetime maximum and, for anything costly, pre-authorisation. Call the insurer with the plan and policy numbers, ask what the maximum is and whether they need a prescription, and ask whether used equipment qualifies — some plans allow it, some only fund new. We provide the itemised invoice they will want.

PST and GST on medical equipment

BC's PST bulletin on medical supplies (PST 207, revised August 2024) exempts, for everyone, wheelchairs and scooters with their parts and cushions, patient lifts, walkers, canes, crutches, commodes and lift chairs designed to help a person stand. Hospital-style beds are exempt only when sold on prescription; mattresses marketed to reduce bed sores are exempt when bought by or for a person with a disability. Federally, wheelchairs, commodes, walkers and patient lifts are GST zero-rated; lift chairs are zero-rated on the written order of a physician, therapist or nurse for a named person; hospital beds on prescription. Neither bulletin distinguishes new from used. Our checkout charges GST on delivery only; if you have a prescription, tell us, and confirm anything that matters with your accountant.

When buying used is the answer

Loan programs are short-term by design and carry basic equipment; MEPP has a hardship test; PWD funding takes an assessment and approval; insurers have maximums. So buying used and serviced makes sense when:

• the need will last longer than about three months, or is open-ended;
• the person does not qualify for a loan or a benefit, or the wait is too long for a discharge date;
• the equipment is something loan programs do not carry — a tilt-in-space chair with seating, a ceiling lift, a full-electric bed for the long term;
• a funder will pay a fixed maximum, and a used item fits inside it where a new one does not.

A used, inspected and serviced hospital bed from us is $900 to $2,000; a tilt chair $1,500 to $2,500; a lift chair $500 to $1,200; delivered and set up from $100. Every current item is on the in-stock page, and what we do not have we source. If a funder is involved, tell us when you order and we will make sure the paperwork suits them.