Health & Wellness Spending Accounts

Archway Insurance provides value additions for your employee benefits program, including Health and Wellness Spending Accounts. These flexible benefits are a fantastic way to appeal to all generations in your workforce, as well as improve employee wellbeing.

Health Spending Account

With a Health Spending Account (HSA), the employer sets aside a certain amount of money per employee per month or per year on a non-taxable basis. Employees can use this amount to obtain medical services, and then they submit the claim details to the insurance carrier.

For example, ABC Company puts $500 per calendar year into a Health Spending Account for each of their 20 employees. These benefits are non-taxable to the employee.

For the claim to be reimbursed, the medical services must be outlined in the CRA’s Income Tax Folio S1-F1-C1, Medical Expense Tax Credit.

The following expenses may be eligible under a Health Spending Account:

• Chiropractor treatment
• Massage therapy
• Psychiatrist treatment
• Dental treatment
• Eyeglasses or contact lenses
• Nursing treatment
• Oxygen masks
• Prescription drugs
• Surgery
• And much more

A Health Spending Account provides employees with additional coverage on top of their employee benefits program.

Wellness Spending Account

With a Wellness Spending Account (WSA), an employer sets aside a certain amount of money per year per employee. For example, ABC Company may put $200 per calendar year into a Wellness Spending Account for each employee. These benefits are taxable to the employee.

A Wellness Spending Account provides much more flexibility than a Health Spending Account, and this account has significant value to employees. It is an effective way of increasing employee retention, engagement, and loyalty.

Eligible expenses for a Wellness Spending Account are chosen by the employer, and the account can cover a wide variety of items. An employer can pick and choose eligible items.

An example of eligible expenses are:

• Camping fees and equipment
• Cosmetic procedures
• Dance lessons
• Elder care fees
• Fitness trackers
• Golfing fees
• Gym memberships
• Language program
• Legal fees
• Meditation classes
• Parking
• Pet daycare
• Ski passes
• Spa services
• Veterinary fees
• And much more

Many employers are using Health and Wellness Spending Accounts to provide better value to their employees. Contact us today to find out more on the benefits and flexibility of Wellness Spending Accounts for your company.