Medical Expenses

It's imperative to recognize what therapeutic costs meet all requirements for assessment credits. Shockingly numerous Canadians don't know what number of credits they may be qualified for. These incorporate gadgets, adjustments and administrations from specialists for restorative medications. You can guarantee certain expenses that are not paid for by a commonplace or private arrangement for you, your companion and ward kids under 18.

On the off chance that you have private scope or are paying any bit of your wellbeing and dental arrangement premiums at work these premiums meet all requirements for an assessment credit as well.

Therapeutic Experts

The term therapeutic expert incorporates a scope of medicinal services experts. To fit the bill for the restorative cost assessment credit, human services experts must be authorized or guaranteed by an administering body to go about as a medicinal expert in their region or domain. To see the complete rundown go to CRA's site: www.cra-arc.gc.ca/restorative.

Here is a rundown of ordinarily approved restorative professionals:

• Restorative specialist
• Attendant
• Attendant specialist
• Optician
• Optometrist
• Drug specialist
• Physiotherapist
• Word related advisor
• Podiatrist
• Rub specialist
• Chiropractor
• Respiratory advisor
• Dental specialist
• Dental hygienist
• Denturist
• Orthodontist
• Audiologist
• Discourse dialect pathologist
• Therapist
• Dietician
• Naturopath
• Acupuncturist
• Maternity specialist
• Medications, gadgets and changes

An extensive variety of therapeutic costs may be qualified for the duty credit. To quality, the costs must be recommended or gave by a medicinal specialist or a doctor's facility. Here is a rundown of some normal qualified restorative costs:

• Medicinal and dental administrations
• Orthodontic work
• Physician endorsed medications
• Lab tests
• Specialist consideration cost. 

To read more about non-medical life insurance, call us today!

Don't Let Critical Illness Impact Your Retirement Savings

Getting sick isn’t something any of us like to think about. But it can happen. In fact, your risk of being diagnosed with a critical illness before age 65 is higher than your risk of dying in that time. As Joe discovered, treating and coping with illness can mean significant and often unexpected costs that may not be covered by provincial or employer health plans. Critical illness insurance can help you pay the expenses associated with getting sick by providing a cash benefit. If you’re diagnosed with one of the conditions defined in your contract and you survive the waiting period. With the cash benefit you can:

• Hire a nurse or caregiver to help you at home
• Pay off your mortgage
• Receive income when you can’t work or your partner takes a leave of absence from his or her job to assist you
• Help protect your retirement plans
• Help manage business expenses
• Take a vacation or reduce your workload to help you recover

Planning for the unexpected is critical
Critical illness insurance is part of a good financial strategy as it helps you to plan for the unexpected. No one anticipates getting sick. And, if you’re fortunate enough to live a long and healthy life, many critical illness plans offer Return of Premium options that can give you some or all of your money back.

The critical illness insurance market is growing in Canada and many companies now offer this type of “living benefit” insurance. With so many plans to choose from, how can you decide which one is right for you?

As you evaluate the various options, consider choosing a critical illness policy that offers:

• Coverage for the conditions that pose the greatest threat to your health and present the most significant recovery demands and the greatest financial challenges
• A partial benefit if your condition isn’t life threatening, but is life altering. There are plans that give you 25 per cent of your coverage (up to a maximum of $50,000) for conditions not normally covered by other critical illness products
• The ability to receive a portion of your benefit up front so your recovery can begin sooner; some plans offer a recovery benefit of 10 per cent of your coverage (up to a maximum of $10,000) that helps you get some benefits faster, without having to fulfill the waiting period.

Significant impact on retirement savings
Many people who get sick have no choice but to turn to their savings to pay their medical costs. For some, this means tapping into their retirement savings to finance their recovery. As you can imagine, this can significantly impact your financial plan and retirement strategy. It may mean working longer and putting off retirement or accepting a diminished lifestyle during retirement. The point is that many people do not plan to get sick and, therefore, may not budget for it.
Joe had planned to retire comfortably at 65

The cost of Joe’s recovery exceeded $100,000. The price of new therapies and other medical costs, and Joe’s inability to work full-time for an extended period, contributed to his soaring expenses. Joe came up with the money to pay the bills, but only by dipping into his retirement savings. Joe and his wife, Mary, had a plan in place to retire, but Joe’s unexpected illness took them off course.
Joe and Mary had intended to retire comfortably when Joe turned 65. They had contributed to their Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) each year and had started accumulating money in non-registered savings accounts as well. Unfortunately, their plan is now unrealistic. With additional unexpected expenses and the RRSP withdrawals they made because of Joe’s illness, Joe and Mary won’t be able to live the lifestyle they expected in retirement.

Group Benefits are Your Way of Saying Thanks

If you own a small business, you’ve likely spent years building your company. You’ve got repeat customers and created a great reputation. Your employees are loyal and your success depends on them. However, for one reason or another you may not offer a group benefits plan.

Here’s why you may want to reconsider: maintaining a healthy workplace and a healthy workforce are two critical pieces of every business plan, and group benefits can help achieve those dual objectives.

Perhaps, as time ticks on and medical needs grow, you’re recognizing that providing health coverage and financial protection is a meaningful way to thank your employees for their hard work. After all, one of the greatest gifts you can give your team is the confidence that comes with knowing many of their own medical needs – and those of their family members – are covered and that their loved ones can be protected financially in the future.

Health insurance covers the catastrophic event of an employee dependent on expensive prescription drugs along with travel insurance, ambulance and many other necessities not necessarily covered by provincial health plans. Not to mention the most important part being long-term disability benefits.
Let’s look at a hypothetical example that might ring true for you.

Bill is the 45-year old owner of an engineering firm. Due to changing government regulations, and a recent foray into the booming energy sector, Bill’s enterprise has grown from seven to more than 20 employees, and he’s opening two small satellite offices.

Over the past year, Bill has devoted his energy to winning new customers; hiring new staff; training new, young employees; opening offices; leasing equipment and vehicles; and meeting the many other demands of a growing company. During this period of growth, Bill has had less time to devote to his long-term employees.
For the past few months, some of Bill’s employees have left including a key person he depended on. These staff departures have happened in the midst of Bill’s efforts to hire talented people who will help support the growth of his firm. With plans for the future, he is now looking for new ways to attract and keep high-performing staff. Bill realized that he has to take steps to keep his employees-

To read more Click Here.

SPEAK WITH YOUR ADVISOR
For a thorough evaluation of your insurance needs, please speak with our advisor.

Are you financially ready for a major health event?

According to a major life insurance company’s survey, nearly half of Canadians facing a major health incident such as cancer or stroke are struggling financially as a result of their illness.
Many people realize that a serious health event could impact their personal finances, but only a handful actually set aside money for such an event.

Most feel that the health care system is going to look after them but a lot of the care you need at home and in recovery is not necessarily covered. Even though these are covered by company health plans, most people still have to pay a percentage of the cost themselves.

Thousands of people across the country are self-employed or employed with no benefit plan.
Disability insurance protects your income if you cannot work due to illness or accident. And critical illness insurance pays a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a serious illness covered in the policy. But even with this coverage, it may not be enough.

The cost of prescription drugs have gone through the roof. It is not uncommon to have a prescription drug cost of $80,000 a year or more, and many people are found to tap into retirement savings, borrow from loved ones or remortgage or sell their home to pay these costs.

Such choices add to peoples stress levels as they battle a major illness. But despite knowing this most Canadians feel good about their physical and emotional health which add to a false sense of security.
Life insurance has been designed to relieve some of this stress for pennies on the dollar, but it may be time to add health insurance as well.

Health insurance can protect you against the high cost of catastrophic drugs and the stress it causes.

SPEAK WITH YOUR ADVISOR

For a thorough evaluation of your insurance needs, please speak with our advisor.

Disability Insurance for Seniors in Victoria, BC

If you have had a long term disability insurance plan either through your work or you purchased a personal policy you’ll know that it probably expires at age 65. No problem, you’re retired now and don’t need it anyway. Your pension and or savings resources are calculated perfectly to allow you just the right amount of income to last out your golden years.

However what would happen if your plans are all of a sudden disrupted by serious illness and you could no longer take care of yourself. A health problem can happen any time and it could seriously change your retirement plans. In fact, according to a Sunlife Canada Health Index just over three in four Canadians say their personal finances would be impacted if they were to develop a chronic health condition and a 2013 report on the health of Canadians, Heart and Stroke Foundation says that the average Canadian will live a decade in sickness, disability and immobility in life.

A Munich Re report in 2011 says the average 65 year old couple has an 82% chance that at least one of them will need long term care in their retirement. I realize this is a lot of statistics to grasp however if you are concerned about the financial challenges that would come about if this were to happen to you it’s time to look at a disability policy for seniors called Long Term Care Insurance.
Like disability insurance the amount you pay for long term care insurance depends on a number of factors.

How much you want – Depending on the plan some pay out a monthly benefit, some pay per day, some pay a lump sum spread out over a period of time.

How long you wait – You can start your payments immediately in some cases or have a 30, 90, or 180 days. Of course the shorter the waiting the more expensive it is.

How long does it last – Some as I indicated pay a lump sum but in most cases your benefit per day or month has a benefit period you choose.

There are other factors as well, depending on whether you want home care or facility care, and some companies will pay the benefit to you regardless. As long as you qualify according to the definition in the contract as being ‘disabled’ you receive the benefits.

The one thing to keep in mind is the reason for having the long term care insurance in the first place is to allow you choices. There are many government facilities, but many have a long waiting list and still ‘cost’ depending on your personal worth. However, is this you want? When you know of someone that has been placed in a public institution more than 250 kilometres away from home, the motivation for this insurance is much greater.

Make a list of the ten most important activities in your life. Imagine that you are 65 years old. Cross off three. Imagine that you are 75 years old. Cross off three more. Imagine that you are 85 years old. Cross off another three. Now imagine your reaction. 

SPEAK WITH YOUR ADVISOR

For a thorough evaluation of your insurance needs, please speak with our advisor.