Health care spending accounts

A health care spending account (HCSA)  is in essence an individual plan member's account that provides reimbursement for covered expenses such as:

• Eligible expenses not covered under a current benefit plan;
• Eligible expenses in excess of current plan maximums;
• Co-insurance and deductibles charged by current benefit plans; and
• Expenses for dependents not eligible under other benefit plans, but eligible under the broader Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) definition of dependent health and non-health related expenses.

By design an Equitable Life HCSA addresses the unique and differing needs of clients and their plan members. For plan members it provides greater flexibility in how they choose to spend their allocated amount. For employers it provides a greater cost certainty by providing an established maximum cost per benefit period per plan member.

An HCSA is a flexible and easy-to-use solution to today's complex benefit marketplace issues such as:

• Changing workplace demographics and the need for plan flexibility;
• Rising benefit costs; and
• Employee retention and recruitment issues.