Professional Employees Association (PEA) supplementary benefits

PEA Health Spending Account (policy 50594)

This account is available to employees who belong to the Professional Employees Association (PEA). A Health Spending Account (HSA) allows you to pay for eligible out-of-pocket expenses that are not covered by your extended health and dental plans.

How it works

Effective January 1, 2020, a Health Spending Account (HSA) is available as part of your benefits package.

To be eligible, you must be:

• A BC Public Service employee in the PEA
• Enrolled in the extended health plan

Employees who meet the criteria will automatically be provided an HSA to claim eligible health and dental expenses up to $250 per calendar year.

This benefit enables you to claim for 100% of covered expenses under your HSA, such as eligible medical expenses not covered under the extended health or dental plan and top-up expenses not fully covered like deductibles and co-payment amounts.

The list of eligible expenses and dependent family members follows the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) income tax guidelines, which are broader than under your benefits plan.

• You can only access your HSA funds by claiming them for reimbursement of eligible expenses. You cannot cash in your account
• Funds in an HSA must be claimed within two plan years or you lose them. Funds are available for covered expenses in a plan year. Any remaining funds at the end of the calendar year will be carried forward to the next calendar year and must be claimed by the end of the second calendar year or you'll forfeit those funds
• Unless you have coordinated benefits with your spouse, you can claim funds from your HSA when you submit your initial claim for reimbursement. Check My Canada Life at Work for your HSA balance. Claims can be made electronically through My Canada Life at Work or by completing and submitting the appropriate paper claim form:
  • ​Dental Plan Claim Form WITH Healthcare Spending Account (PDF, 234KB)
  • Extended Health Plan Claim Form WITH Healthcare Spending Account (PDF, 165KB)
• If applicable, you can claim funds from your HSA after submitting your claim to your extended health or dental plan and your spouse’s plan
• If your employment changes from PEA to another employee group, such as excluded, the new terms and conditions of that role would apply, and any unused HSA would be forfeited; however, if you subsequently returned to the PEA in the same calendar year, any previously forfeited amount of HSA would be reinstated
• If your employment ends, you cannot claim expenses incurred after your termination date. Any unused funds will be forfeited

Claiming deadline

The claiming deadline for your HSA is February 28 following the year in which the expense was incurred. For example, if you have expenses in 2020, you must submit your claim by February 28, 2021.

It’s recommended that you submit claims immediately after treatment. Late claims will not be accepted by Canada Life.