Health Care Spending Account (HCSA)
Your HCSA can be used towards any eligible health or dental expenses under Canada’s Income Tax Act – for example, the portion of your drug costs not reimbursed by the plan or additional paramedical services.
Amounts allocated to this account are up to you to decide. You can allocate part of your benefits budget and any additional fixed annual amounts, if applicable. Keep in mind, the money in your HCSA is pre-tax, so it goes a lot further. For Quebec residents, it’s a taxable benefit like your regular employer-paid health benefits.
Allocate your additional credits now
by enrolling in the upcoming benefit year!
Allocate your additional credits now
by enrolling in the upcoming benefit year!
Use it or lose it
If you don’t use your full HCSA balance by December 31 of a given plan year, it will be carried forward to the next year. If you don’t spend that carryover by the end of year two, you lose it!
Remember to submit eligible HCSA expenses in the plan year they’re incurred, because you can’t claim them in future years.
Eligible expenses
There are literally hundreds of eligible health, dental and prescription drug expenses for which your HCSA can supplement your Health Benefits Plan.
For example, you can use the money in your HCSA for:
- Dental work – everything from root canals to braces
- Hearing aids – including repairs and batteries
- Paramedical services – including the services of a registered massage therapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, and physiotherapist
- Vision care – such as contact lenses, laser eye surgery, and even prescription sunglasses
- MRI exams – when conducted at a private clinic, and
- Travel and transportation – when required to receive necessary medical care.
You’ll find a complete list of eligible expenses on the Canada Revenue Agency website.
Did you know that the HCSA covers not only you and your spouse, but an expanded list of dependents? This includes children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews of you or your spouse – as long as they:
- are dependent on you for financial support and can be claimed as a dependent on your tax return, and
- have lived in Canada at some point during the year (this residency requirement does not apply if the eligible dependent is your spouse or a grandchild).
This website is intended to provide you with a general overview of the Health Benefits Plan For Eastern Operations of Interfor. It is not intended to be comprehensive or to provide advice. If there are any differences between the information provided in this website and any legal documents that govern the delivery of benefits, the legal documents will apply.