What goes in a health spending account?

Here are some of the allowable expenses employers can offer plan members through a health spending account. The list is provided by Blue Cross and is based on guidelines from the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency.

Services and products include:
•cosmetic surgery;
•costs of medical services outside province of residence;
•electrolysis or hair removal performed by a licensed technician;
•modifications to a home for people confined to a wheelchair;
•surgical hair transplant performed by a physician;
•devices to enable diabetics to measure blood-sugar levels;
•devices to attach to infants diagnosed as prone to sudden infant death syndrome;
•closed captioning devices;
•vision expenses including eyeglasses, contact lenses and seeing-eye dogs; and
•weight-loss or stop-smoking programs prescribed by a physician.

Services by practitioners include:
•acupuncturists;
•chiropodists;
•chiropractors;
•Christian science practitioners;
•osteopaths; and
•speech language pathologists.

Services provided in facilities include:
•care of a person who is certified mentally incompetent;
•care of a blind person;
•care in a nursing home; and
•payment to a licensed private hospital.