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Tickets? Money? Passports? Have you got everything for the coming Canada Day long weekend? While many Canadians will be laying low this year with the price of gas, I myself will be making my annual trip to see friends and family abroad, at a significant premium over last year. Like many small business owners, I have a personal out-of-province travel policy to take with me. What many people don’t know is that these policies are an eligible expense from a Health Spending Account!
That’s right! You can sign-up for most group medical travel plans and the premium can be claimed from your HSA, similar to a private group insurance plan like Manulife’s Cover Me or similar products from Blue Cross. I have Travel Assist, a product from Benecaid and ETFS. It provides me with out-of-province medical and emergency sickness for up to $5 million of coverage per trip per person and a $75,000 referral benefit to cover medical and transportation costs in excess of provincial coverage. Even better, it provides coverage for trip cancellation and lost baggage! Having a travel policy is essential when leaving your province and given the nominal cost, every Canadian should be investing in this type of overage, especially during the busy summer travel months.
Since it is an eligible expense from my HSA, the premiums are paid with tax-free money making it even more affordable! If you have an HSA, or are considering one, be sure to add a travel policy, you won’t regret it. Bon Voyage!
I can’t believe I forgot yet another Tax Freedom Day. I am so busy this time of year. I didn’t even get my Happy Tax Freedom Day cards out into the mail until last night. What an embarrassment.
But yes, Tax Freedom Day was last week, June 14th to be exact. Virtually every Canadian added some extra cash to their pay cheque as of June 14th and to be honest, it could not have come at a better time. It costs $100.00 to fill my car each week and the price of food (based on the price of corn) continues to climb along side.
I think Tax Freedom Day will always be a bit of a second-rate holiday for people like me. While it is an important day for most Canadians, it holds little importance for HSA owners. After all, they already enjoy a greater degree of tax freedom when it comes to their medical expenses. When an individual business owner experiences savings of $5,000-$10,000 a year for their high-cost medical expenses through an HSA, you can understand why Tax Freedom Day is a bit over-rated. After all, an additional $150.00 in their pocket from mid-June to December isn’t going to change the world. They have turned Tax Freedom Day into a year-long event. Sort of like those neighbors who leave their Christmas lights up all year long…because they can’t get enough of the holidays I suppose.
But I am always looking for a reason to celebrate and even though I missed the official date, I still have 30 people coming over on Saturday for a Tax Freedom Day BBQ. You know, the kind where you drink lower-taxed domestic beer versus imports and play games like “pin the tail on the finance minister”. That reminds me, I need to order my dollar-shaped cake for the party!
Sorry folks for the long break since my last post. I have been a little busy but thought that this morning I would write about the new Statistics Canada report on the shortage of doctors. Rather, the number of Canadians without a family doctor.
According to the report, 4 million Canadians do not have a regular doctor, and recent immigrants are the most likely to be without one. Only 73% of people living in Quebec have a regular doctor, the lowest rate in the country. Nova Scotia, however, had the highest percentage at 94%. Of those who do not have a family doctor, the study showed that 76% use local clinics and community health centres as their primary source of care.
This lead to me thinking…what does this mean for the corporate consolidation we are starting to see in places like Alberta and Ontario for medical services? ListenUp Canada, as an example, are consolidating hearing clinics and making access and service more streamlined. Will private walk-in clinics be branded next? For those looking for new business venture ideas, might I suggest a coffee in the coming weeks? We may be onto something here, especially if this trend continues!