What is covered by the Private Health Services Plan?

Below is a comprehensive (though not complete) list of all health and dental related expenses that can be paid for through your company, with the Private Health Services Plan (PHSP).

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call us at: 403-282-3776 or Toll Free: 1-800-651-3776

In general, any service by a qualified medical practitioner is an eligible expenditure.

To be a qualified medical practitioner, the person must be authorized to practice in accordance with the laws of the province/state in which he/she resides, and certified according to that practitioner’s governing body.

Click here to visit Canada Revenue Agency site for a complete list of eligible medical expenses.

Contents

Hospital treatment

Premiums for Health Care Plans

Premiums paid to any non-government medical or hospital care plan. e.g. Blue Cross, London Life, etc.

Navigate back to the top of the page

Professional Services

Any medical service performed by a qualified medical practitioner* including, but not limited to the following:

  • Acupuncturist
  • Chiropodist
  • Chiropractor
  • Dental Hygienist
  • Dental Mechanic
  • Dentist
  • Dietician
  • Gynecologist
  • Massage Therapist
  • Naturopath
  • Neurologist
  • Obstetrician
  • Occupational Therapist
  • Ophthalmologist
  • Optician
  • Optometrist
  • Orthodontist
  • Osteopath
  • Orthopedist
  • Pediatrician
  • Pharmacist
  • Physician
  • Physiotherapist
  • Podiatrist
  • Practical Nurse (for medical service)
  • Psychiatrist
  • Psychoanalyst
  • Psychologist (if licensed)
  • Registered Nurse
  • Speech-language pathologist or speech-language audiologist (treatment for pathological or audiological impediments)
  • Surgeon
  • Therapeutist or Therapist
*Note: A qualified medical practitioner means a person who is authorized to practice in accordance to the laws of the province in which he/she resides, and certified according to that practitioner’s governing body.

Navigate back to the top of the page

Dental Services

  • Dental X-Rays
  • Dental Repair and Replacement
  • Denture Repair and Replacement
  • Examinations and Cleanings
  • Extracting Teeth
  • Filling Teeth
  • Gum Treatment
  • Oral Surgery
  • Straightening Teeth

Navigate back to the top of the page

Laboratory Examinations and Tests

  • Blood Tests
  • Cardiographs
  • Metabolism Test
  • Spinal Fluid Tests
  • Stool Examination
  • Urine Analyses
  • X-Ray Examination

Navigate back to the top of the page

Hospital Services

  • Anesthetist
  • Hospital Bills
  • Oxygen Masks, Tent
  • Use of Operating Room
  • Vaccines
  • X-Ray Technician

Navigate back to the top of the page

Prescribed Medical Treatments

  • Blood Transfusion
  • Bone Marrow or Organ Transplant
  • Electric Shock Treatments
  • Healing Services
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Injections
  • Insulin Treatments
  • Nursing (by Registered Nurse)
  • Pre-Natal, Post Natal Treatments
  • Psychotherapy
  • Sclerotherapy
  • Radium Therapy
  • Speech Pathology or Audiology
  • Ultra-violet Ray Treatments
  • Whirlpool Baths
  • X-Ray Treatments

Navigate back to the top of the page

Medicines

  • All Prescription Drugs
  • Insulin or Substitutes
  • Liver Extract - injectable for pernicious anemia
  • Oxygen
  • Prescribed Medical Botox
  • Tapes or Tablets - for sugar content tests by diabetics, if prescribed
  • Vitamin B12 - for pernicious anemia

Navigate back to the top of the page

Materials and Apparatus (including repairs and replacement batteries) Which are Prescribed by a Recognized Medical Practitioner

Any medical apparatus or material prescribed by a doctor, dentist, nurse or hospital including but not limited to the following:

  • An external breast prosthesis
  • Any device designed to assist walking where the individual has a mobility impairment
  • Contact lenses
  • Custom orthopedic shoes or boots
  • Devices designed to assist a person to use bathtubs, showers, or toilets
  • Devices designed to enable individuals with a mobility impairment to operate a vehicle
  • Devices used by individuals suffering from a chronic respiratory aliment or a severe chronic immune system disregulation
  • Electronic or computerized environmental control systems for individuals with severe and prolonged mobility restrictions
  • Electronic speech synthesizers for mute individuals
  • Equipment that enable deaf or mute persons to make and receive telephone calls including visual ringing indicators, acoustic coupler, teletyping, which makes telephone communication possible with other persons
  • Extremity pumps or elastic support hose to reduce lymph edema swelling
  • Eye glasses
  • Hearing aids
  • Heart monitors or pacemakers
  • Hospital beds, including any attachments
  • Inductive coupling osteogenesis stimulator
  • Infusion pumps for diabetics, including peripherals and devices to measure blood sugar levels
  • Monitors attached to babies identified as being prone to sudden infant death syndrome
  • Optical scanners or similar devices for a blind individual to enable him/her to read print
  • Oxygen tent
  • Power operated guided chair installation for stairways
  • Power operated guided lifts and transportation equipment designed to allow access to buildings, vehicles, or to allow wheelchair access to a vehicle
  • Synthetic speech systems, braille printers, and large print-on-screen devices that enable blind persons to utilize computers
  • Swelling syringes
  • Television closed captioning decoders
  • Wigs, if required as a result of disease, accident, or medical treatment

Navigate back to the top of the page

Other Expenditures

  • Ambulance charges
  • Homemaker services and home care for the disabled (attendant must be a non-relative)
  • Prescription birth control
  • Reasonable expenses relating to renovations to a dwelling for patients with severe and prolonged mobility impairment (e.g. wheelchair ramp, lifts, bath facilities) (see CRA guide for details).
  • Rehabilitative therapy, lip reading and sign language training
  • Specially trained animals to assist blind, deaf, or severely impaired persons, including the cost of its care and maintenance
  • Transportation costs to hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office to obtain services not otherwise locally available; distance one way must be at least 40 km (See CRA guide for limitations and details)
  • Travel, meals, and accommodations costs (for a patient and an accompanying attendant) may be eligible if: 1. Equivalent medical services are not available locally; 2. The route travelled is reasonably direct; 3. Medical treatment is reasonable and distance travelled one way is at least 80 km. (See CRA guide for limitations and details)
  • In vitro fertility program
  • Certain CRA approved fertility-related procedures

Navigate back to the top of the page

Other Materials and Apparatus Which Do Not Require a Prescription

  • Any device to aid the hearing of a deaf person including bone conduction telephone receivers, extra loud audible signals and devices to permit volume adjustment of telephone equipment above normal levels
  • Artificial eye
  • Artificial kidney machine, including installation, operating costs
  • Artificial limb
  • Blood sugar level measuring devices for diabetics
  • Brace for a limb
  • Catheters, catheter trays, tubing, diapers, disposable briefs required by incontinent persons
  • Colostomy pads
  • Crutches
  • Hernia truss
  • Ilestomy pads
  • Iron lung
  • Laryngeal speaking aid
  • Spinal Brace
  • Wheelchair, or scooter used in place of wheelchair

Navigate back to the top of the page

The Following Expenditures Are Not Covered Under This Plan

  • Air conditioners*, humidifiers or dehumidifiers
  • Antiseptic diaper service
  • Birth control devices (Non prescription)
  • Blood Pressure monitoring devices
  • Cosmetic procedures - Expenses must be for diagnostic, therapeutic or rehabilitative services. Expenses incurred forpurely cosmetic procedures are not eligible medical expenses; for example, teeth whitening, liposuction, hair replacement procedures, botulinum toxin (Botox) injections, facelifts, and breast augmentation. Some cosmetic procedure qualify if required for medical or reconstructive purposes and must be so stated in writing by your medical practitioner.
  • Cost of missed appointments
  • Gym memberships
  • Health programs offered by resort hotels, health clubs
  • Homeopathic medicament and herbal supplements
  • Hospital parking (unless it can be included in long distance travel)
  • Illegal operations, treatment or drugs
  • Maternity clothes
  • Medical expenses for which you are reimbursed or are entitled to be reimbursed from other plans
  • Over-the-counter products (vitamins, supplements, aspirin, bandages, etc)
  • Payments to a municipality where the municipality employed a doctor to provide medical services to the residents of the municipality
  • Reiki Practitioner
  • Rolf therapy (unless paid to a physician)
  • Scales for weighing food
  • Special foods or beverages are not an eligible expense. However, if said food or beverages are taken to alleviate or treat an illness and not nutritional, they may be allowed. Such claims must be accompanied by a letter from a medical doctor.
  • Toothpaste, toothbrushes
  • Umbilical cord blood extraction and storage

*The first $1,000 or 50%, whichever is less of an air conditioner prescribed by a medical practitioner as being necessary to assist an individual in coping with severe chronic ailment, disease or disorder

Navigate back to the top of the page

IMPORTANT - Provincial Health Care Premiums ARE NOT eligible expenditures.

The most common definition of a medical expense is a payment made to a licensed medical practitioner qualified to practice under the provincial laws of the place where the expenses were incurred. Medical expenses eligible to be paid out of the PHSP are expenses which would otherwise qualify as medical expenses within section 118.2(2) of the Income Tax Act.