Full time unemployed student and MSP
 

So for people who are going back to school and will be unemployed in the next few months,

(better, if you've been employed prior to going back to school)

do we still have to pay MSP for the remainder of 2016?

And when 2017 comes, we can apply for premium assistance?

Ive been a full time student for 15months and I didnt have to pay anything like this. I believe for my institution, only international students should be aware of their medical problems. Are you a international student?

No.

Did you have to apply for premium assistance or anything like that?

I remember going through this a few years back.
They take into account how much you make 2 years prior, so if you are a new student with no income, you can apply for premium assistance based on your last years income tax (ie. 2015 right now).
They are able to back date 6 months I believe, so if you do your income tax in jan/feb for 2016 showing a significant reduction in wages in 2015, you can minimize how much you have to pay for MSP.

https://extranet.gov.bc.ca/forms/gov/health/msppa.html
Use that to help calculate and I find calling the number more helpful than emails/letters and shit...but can take a lot of time to get through.