Combine a Health Spending Account (HSA) with Group Benefits to Maximize Coverage in Canada

If you’re incorporated, potentially through a professional corporation as a lawyer, doctor, or consultant and your firm provides you with group benefits, you might assume you’re fully covered.

After all, the firm offers a health and dental plan, and you’ve been paying into it for years.

But here’s the truth: your benefits are not as complete as they seem.

Most group plans are built to manage costs, not eliminate them.

They leave you paying out of pocket in ways that add up fast, even with decent coverage.

That’s where your Hiveworks Health Spending Account (HSA) steps in.

It doesn’t replace your existing plan. It fills in the gaps, and it does it in a way that’s tax-efficient, CRA-compliant, and tailored to incorporated professionals like you.

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Four Ways Your HSA Complements Your Group Benefits

1. Cover What Your Group Plan Doesn’t Pay For

Most group plans only cover a percentage of eligible costs. The remaining portion is still your responsibility, and you’re paying for it personally with after-tax dollars.

Example:
A $200 physio visit reimbursed at 80 percent still leaves you paying $40.

With Hiveworks, that $40 can be submitted through your HSA and reimbursed tax-free. Your corporation claims it as a business expense, and you recover what your group plan left behind.

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2. Go Beyond Annual Maximums

Group plans often have strict annual limits on how much they’ll reimburse. These caps can be surprisingly low.

• Dental: $1,000 to $1,500 per year
• Vision: $150 to $250 every two years
• Massage, physio, chiro, counselling: $300 to $500 per year per service

Once you hit those caps, your plan stops paying. But you don’t stop needing care. That’s where your HSA picks up the rest. Any amount over the group plan maximum can be claimed through Hiveworks.

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3. Claim What Your Plan Doesn’t Cover at All

Many common health expenses are not covered by group plans at all. But if they qualify under CRA’s Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC), they’re fully eligible under your HSA.

Some examples:

• Braces / Invisalign / Orthodontics
• Laser eye surgery
• Orthotics and orthopedic shoes
• Fertility treatments
• Dietitians, naturopaths, acupuncture
• Acne or dermatology-related procedures

If your group plan doesn’t cover it, but it's eligble under the Medical Expense Tax Credit, your HSA will reimburse it.

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4. Reimburse Your Premiums

Your portion of group benefit premiums, the amount deducted from your compensation, is often overlooked. But it is eligible.

If your firm provides a group benefits plan, it likely includes coverage for medical, dental, vision, and hospitalization expenses.

Some plans also include critical illness, life insurance, or long-term disability.

While the insurance portion doesn’t qualify, the part of your premium that relates to medical overage does.

That eligible portion can be submitted through your HSA and reimbursed tax-free.

You're already paying for this coverage so use your Hiveworks HSA to make sure your corporation is covering the cost.

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Maximize What You’re Already Paying For

Your Hiveworks HSA isn’t a replacement for your firm’s plan, it pairs up with it.

Whether it’s leftover amounts, premium deductions, uncovered services, or expenses that exceed your plan’s limits, your corporation can step in and reimburse those costs.

You’ve already invested in your health coverage.

With an HSA, you make sure every dollar works harder for your business and for you.

Ready to fill in the gaps? Get started.

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