Corp. Health spending | Wes Anderson

Health Spending Accounts

People at different ages and life stages have different health needs and priorities—and they value different benefits as a result. Creating a plan that satisfies everyone can be a challenge—now more than ever. Rising costs make the challenge more acute. As our workforce ages and new, more expensive drugs hit the market, business owners may find it increasingly difficult to provide a comprehensive traditional benefits plan.

A Health Spending Account (HSA) can help. By its nature, a HSA brings cost containment. Business owners decide how much to allocate to employees and can rest assured they will not exceed that amount. That’s unlike insured benefits, where the premiums may rise every year in line with rising costs and utilization rates.

A HSA is also an easy way to make benefit plans more relevant to today’s more diverse workforce. With an overall maximum, employees have the flexibility to use their credits according to their needs. A HSA can be a great supplement to a traditional benefits plan—or even an alternative to some forms of coverage, enrich a plan, add flexibility, or control costs. One tool, many applications.

Is a Health Spending Account for you?

A HSA may be the best solution for you if:

You have a diverse workforce and want to add flexibility and choice to employees’ health benefits.
You are an incorporated business looking for innovative cost containment features in your benefits plan.
You’re facing stiff competition for talented employees and want to add to your plan to make it more attractive.

How HSA works

Business owners decide how much to allocate to employees and can rest assured they will not exceed that amount. They also choose the allocation timetable, and plan type (balance carry- forward or no-carry forward). It’s a tax deductible, self-insured benefit, which means it is cost-effective. Ongoing billing accounts for claims received. Employees get to spend their allocation on items that qualify for the Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) under the Canadian Revenue Income Tax Act, which is more inclusive than most standard employee benefits plans.

Key features and benefits

For business owners:

Costs per year are easily understood
Brings cost stability and predictability to benefit plan
Flexible benefits that can be structured to align with benefits philosophy and people strategy

For employees:

Gives employees choice
Meets diverse needs
Simple to understand claims.
Non-taxable to employees (except in Quebec)

Our Health Spending Account is available to customers with an incorporated business. Most carriers offer Administrative Service Only benefits for companies with a minimum number of employees. WE DON'T! Just one more way in which we excel at adapting products to the needs of small businesses and incorporated contractors.