Group health spending accounts

A Health Spending Account (HSA) from Alberta Blue Cross^® is an innovative way to complement your group benefit plan. HSAs provide the ultimate blend of flexibility and cost containment, while enabling your employees to pay for medical and dental expenses not otherwise covered by your plan—with non‐taxable dollars.

Whether you need to manage costs because of a slowdown or a tight labour market, offering an HSA as part of your Alberta Blue Cross^® benefit plan gives your business a valuable edge in attracting and retaining quality employees.

How does it work?

Credits (dollars) are allocated into a Health Spending Account that employees can use to pay for eligible medical and dental expenses not covered under your group or provincial medical plan. Alberta Blue Cross^® offers a variety of options for employers to fund HSA accounts. Alberta Blue Cross^® Health Spending Accounts have become an important component of many groups' overall benefit programs.

Benefits for your business

Added flexibility

Alberta Blue Cross^® Health Spending Accounts add flexibility to group benefit plans by addressing the varying needs of your workforce. HSAs reimburse your employees for a wide range of health related expenses not covered by provincial medicare plans and for services no longer covered by government programs. HSAs also help your employees pay co‐insurance payments, deductibles and amounts in excess of their health and dental plan limits.

Employee attraction and retention

Offering an HSA to your employees not only helps maintain a healthy, productive workforce, but gives you an edge for attracting and retaining high‐calibre employees.

Active role in health

An Alberta Blue Cross^® Health Spending Account allows employees to take a more active role in their health—using their HSA "credits" wisely and becoming more accountable for their own benefit plan.

Tax advantages

A Health Spending Account from Alberta Blue Cross^® provides an avenue for you to deliver tax‐effective compensation to your employees, using pre‐tax dollars just as if expenses were covered through the health/dental plan. And because the employee portion of health/dental plan rates are eligible expenses with Health Spending Accounts, the tax advantages of a Health Spending Account are better than ever.

Enhanced claiming processes

With Alberta Blue Cross^®’s enhanced claiming processes, it’s easier than ever for employees to submit claims. Balances remaining from health and dental plan claims automatically flow into the HSA plan—meaning no additional claim forms.

Allowable expenses

The following information is provided as a guideline only and does not supersede information or decisions rendered by Canada Revenue Agency.

Determining reimbursement eligibility

Under a Health Spending Account, plan members can be reimbursed for medically‐related expenses not covered by provincial health care plans. In general, any medically‐related expense that could be used to meet requirements for deductibility on a plan member's personal income tax return (in accordance with the Income Tax Act) is eligible for reimbursement. In other words, eligible medical expenses for HSAs are those, which normally would otherwise have qualified as a medical expense under Medical Expense Tax Credit.

Examples of health and dental benefits eligible for reimbursement:

• Deductible and co‐payment amounts for health and dental expenses
• The cost of procedures not covered by provincial health plans, including,
  • vision care expenses
  • orthodontic procedures

Additional items listed below

In addition to deductibles and coinsurance amounts, expenses covered by a Health Spending Account may include the following items, as long as they qualify as medical expenses under the Canadian Income Tax Act and are not covered by any other provincial health insurance plans.

This list of medical expenses and claiming guidelines has been developed by Canada Revenue Agency.

Medical practitioners

• acupuncturist
• audiologist
• chiropodist
• dental hygienist
• dental mechanic
• dentist
• denturist
• dietitian
• medical doctor
• naturopath
• nurse (licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, nurse practitioner)
• occupational therapist
• oculist
• ophthalmologist
• optometrist
• osteopath
• pharmacist (dispensing fee & cognitive services)
• physician
• physiotherapist
• podiatrist
• psychoanalyst
• psychologist
• speech-language

Prescription drug expenses

Two categories of drugs, medicaments or other preparations or substances that must be prescribed by a medical practitioner:

• for an oxygen tent or other equipment necessary to administer oxygen or for insulin, oxygen, liver extract injectible for pernicious anaemia or vitamin B12 for pernicious anaemia, for use by the patient as prescribed by a medical practitioner;
• prescription drugs with a written prescription from a pharmacy.

Vision care expense

• eye examinations
• eyeglasses (lenses and frames) and contact lenses
• surgery performed by a Medical Practitioner such as laser eye surgery

Dental expense

Preventive, diagnostic, orthodontic and therapeutic care.

Ambulance expense

Ambulance charges to or from a public or licensed private hospital.

Diagnostic service expense

Laboratory, radiological and other diagnostic procedures or services used for maintaining health, preventing disease or assisting in diagnosis or treatment as prescribed by a Medical Practitioner or dentist;

Examples include in-vitro fertilization procedures, ultrasounds, anaesthetist fees, etc.