Alberta health cards now have expiration dates. Here’s what you need to know

Jennifer Keiller · CBC News

· Posted: Aug 21, 2026 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: August 21

The province’s new three-in-one IDs mean Alberta health cards are not just transitioning from paper to plastic — they now come with an expiry date. 

The changes came as of July 2, when the province rolled out its integrated driver’s licences that now feature your Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP), as well as proof of citizenship.

Standalone health cards are also available, including for children. They also come with an expiry date. 

On its website, the province says AHCIP coverage will remain valid so long as your health card is not expired, you live in Alberta and you meet eligibility requirements.

It also says Albertans will never be turned away from emergency services, even if that expiry has come and gone. However, it could mean people need to pay out-of-pocket for some non-emergency health services, if their card has expired. 

“You might be able to get it reimbursed later, but you're going to be asked for your credit card up front,” Sarah Hoffman, the NDP’s shadow minister for hospital and surgical facilities, said at a news conference Thursday. 

• New integrated licences leading to longer waits at Alberta registries

In a statement, the Primary and Preventative Health Services ministry said Albertans will have up to a year to apply for reinstatement if they did not renew their card and their coverage was cancelled.

Alberta Medical Association has concerns 

“I don't think that the majority of the public completely understands the potential impact,” said Dr. Brian Wirzba, president of the Alberta Medical Association.

He worries adding an expiry date could affect some of society’s most vulnerable people, like seniors or people with mental disabilities, who might be unaware of the change or not have enough support to help navigate them through it.

“Our concern is really that the mandated renewal requirements might unintentionally create barriers for care for some patients, particularly those who already face challenges navigating administrative systems,” said Wirzba. 

Wirzba said it could result in embarrassment for patients who show up for a doctor’s appointment, only to realize their card is expired.

In other cases, he said the physician’s office might not realize until after an appointment that the card has expired.

"Then we come into a very awkward situation of trying to recoup that money, either from the patient or try to navigate the patient's ability to get that coverage back," said Wirzba.

Why the province made the change 

Alberta joins a number of other provinces that already have expiration dates on their health cards, including Ontario and British Columbia.

"The renewal process responds to a recommendation from the auditor general to regularly verify eligibility for publicly funded health coverage, and aligns Alberta with most other provinces that already have health card expiry dates and renewals," the ministry for primary and preventative health services said in a statement.

The province has previously said introducing expirations could reduce potential health-care fraud. 

“We know that we got into a situation where we had 500,000 more cards in Alberta than we had people in Alberta,” Premier Danielle Smith said on her radio show Your Province, Your Premier on June 13.

“So we don't want to be in a position where people who move away for years and years and years, maybe decades, and then decide, 'oh, I've got a health-care number, I'll come back and get my treatment in Alberta,' having not been taxpayers.”

Wirzba said his organization has not seen a detailed breakdown of those extra cards, and if they are still being used. But he said it's not really an issue he's seen come up as a health-care professional. 

“If there were issues with regards to numbers that are out there not being utilized, we do think that there would be potential other ways that the government could sort that out and get those numbers either out of circulation, or at least flag them as unique and not necessarily fraudulent,” he said. 

The province said it has issued more than 134,000 of the new ID and health cards since July 2.