While Canada does have a publicly funded Medicare system with most services being provided by the private sector about 60 percent of employers in Canada worry about the quality of health plans for their employees.
One of the largest challenges for small business owners in Canada is the concern brought about through the annual increase of the cost of the traditional insured employee health benefits plans. Currently, approximately 30 percent of all Canadian expenditures on health come from private sources, both insurance and out of pocket payments.
Many employers use health spending accounts and health insurance for small business owners to provide additional health and dental plans, as part of their benefits offering. Health spending accounts are self insured health services plans. These health spending accounts can be used to provide additional coverage as supplements. They can also be purchased as stand alone plans rather than having employees covered by the insured private health services plans.
A health savings account allows an employee to put aside pre tax income for the purpose of health care. These Canadian health spending accounts are very similar to those used in the United States.
A small business health insurance plan will give employees reimbursement for medical expenses that are not covered under provincial care plans. Expenses that could be covered by a health spending account include audiology services, vision care, orthodontics, mental health services, and prescription drugs.
A health spending account will allow employees to pay for these medical costs from pre tax income. The cost of these uncovered services, co pays and even the actual cost of a health insurance plan can be covered through a health spending account. This also means than 100 percent of the health care costs will be tax deductible. This means a health spending account can represent benefits worth thousands of dollars per year.
If you are interested in providing health spending account benefits to your employees, you can find many companies that specialize in such programs. All you need to do is contact some of these companies to discuss the best plans that will benefit both you and your employees. You will be able to discuss your budget concerns to make sure that these health spending accounts will suit your business.
