Website: pac.bluecross.ca
Head office address (Canada): 4250 Canada Way, Burnaby, BC V5G 4W6
Year established: 1997
Ownership structure: independent, not-for-profit health benefits society
Target market/client profile: employers of all sizes, individuals and families, retirees, unions, and government program recipients across British Columbia
Number of professional staff: over 700
Canadian office locations: Burnaby (head office)
Pacific Blue Cross (PBC) is an independent, not-for-profit health benefits society based in Burnaby. It covers 1.8 million members across British Columbia through employer group and individual benefit plans. The organization processed over $2.4 billion in total billings for its 2025 fiscal year.
PBC grew out of two not-for-profit health organizations founded in British Columbia during the 1940s. The Medical Services Association (MSA) and the Credit Union and Cooperative Health Services Society (CU&C) each offered prepaid hospital coverage to workers.
Members paid regular contributions so their hospital costs were covered before they ever needed care. The two groups ran independently for over 50 years but shared the same goal of affordable health protection.
Canada’s rollout of Medicare in the late 1960s shifted the ground beneath both organizations. Public hospital coverage meant British Columbians no longer needed a private prepaid plan for basic care.
MSA and CU&C each responded by adding drug, dental, vision, and ambulance benefits to fill the new gap. That shift steered both groups toward the supplementary employer benefit model the industry still uses today.
MSA and CU&C merged in 1997 to form PBC Health Benefits Society, operating as Pacific Blue Cross. The combined organization set up its head office at 4250 Canada Way in Burnaby, where all operations remain today.
PBC also became an independent licensee of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans (CABCP). That membership connected the provider to a national Blue Cross network serving every region of Canada.
PBC has taken on work outside its core benefits business in recent years. The provider partnered with Simon Fraser University to build a fraud profiling tool for health benefit claims.
In 2025, Pacific Blue Cross says it investigated over 500 suspected fraud cases with more than $5 million in financial impact. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, PBC Solutions, also administers the Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare for BC’s Ministry of Health.
PBC offers group, personal, and government-administered benefit plans in British Columbia:
Pacific Blue Cross reimburses claims in as little as 24 hours through its digital portal and direct billing network. Life, disability, and critical illness products are underwritten by Blue Cross Life Insurance Company of Canada, a federally licensed insurer co-owned by Canadian Blue Cross plans.
Sarah Hoffman is president and CEO of Pacific Blue Cross, the sixth person to hold the role. Hoffman served as CFO and later CEO at Healthcare Benefit Trust for over a decade before joining PBC. She holds a chartered accountant designation from Australia and relocated to Vancouver in 2002.
Hoffman leads Pacific Blue Cross’ executive team:
A 13-member board of directors governs Pacific Blue Cross under the British Columbia Society Act. The board includes these members as of 2025:
The board oversees strategy, risk management, and regulatory compliance for PBC Health Benefits Society. The organization publishes KPMG-audited annual reports and reports quarterly to the BC Financial Services Authority.
Pacific Blue Cross serves employers of all sizes, individuals, families, retirees, and government program recipients in British Columbia. PBC says it is BC’s only unionized benefits provider, with CUPE Local 1816 representing roughly three-quarters of its workforce.
PBC runs all operations from Burnaby and serves nearly 2 million members throughout the province as of 2025. It administers programs for two provincial ministries and the First Nations Health Authority, covering over 147,000 First Nations members.
The provider is also licensed in Alberta and the Yukon Territory, with CABCP membership supporting cross-provincial reach.
BC’s public plan now acts as first payer for many hormone therapy claims, with Pacific Blue Cross providing wraparound coverage. The provider also takes part in policy discussions on benefit plan design and women’s health.
Pacific Blue Cross has received workplace, environmental, and inclusion awards from several national and provincial bodies. The provider also holds memberships with benefit plan associations in Canada and abroad.
As a not-for-profit, PBC has no shareholders and reinvests all surplus into operations and community programs. The Pacific Blue Cross Health Foundation has provided close to $6 million to over 344 organizations across BC since 2011.
‘Women who need access to care under the current arrangement here in BC can have access to that care,’ says Sarah Hoffman
