Personal Finance

Filing medical expenses for prescription meds covered by insurance

  • Last Updated:
  • Apr 30th, 2021 1:18 pm
Jr. Member
Oct 16, 2009
111 posts
30 upvotes

Filing medical expenses for prescription meds covered by insurance

OK I have a noob question regarding what dollar amounts I enter into medical expenses, for prescription medications, covered by work insurance.

Let's say the total cost of a med (which I believe is the same as the "claimed" amount on my insurance statement) is $35 ($25 plus $10 dispensing fee). My work insurance covered $22, so I paid $13. Which value do I use as the medical expense?

Note medical expenses aren't listed on my T4.

Thanks in advance!
10 replies
Deal Expert
User avatar
Feb 8, 2014
32083 posts
15376 upvotes
Socially Distanced
You claim the $13.
If you claimed the rest of it then you would be double dipping.

Make sure you have the receipt.
Many pharmacies are happy to give you an end of year comprehensive receipt printout.
In fact in Rand McNally they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people
Jr. Member
Oct 16, 2009
111 posts
30 upvotes
Quentin5 wrote: You claim the $13.
Thanks!
Quentin5 wrote: Many pharmacies are happy to give you an end of year comprehensive receipt printout.
Oh wow, thanks for that tip!

Cheers!
Deal Guru
Feb 4, 2015
10254 posts
6623 upvotes
Canada, Eh!!
If using different pharmacies just login to your work insurance website and print document that will list amount claimed, eligible, paid, unpaid... last amount is what you would claim.
2022/3: BOC raised 10 times and MCAP raised its prime next day.
2017,2018: BOC raised rates 5 times and MCAP raised its prime next day each time.
2020: BOC dropped rates 3 times and MCAP waited to drop its prime to include all 3 drops.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Sep 14, 2012
3415 posts
2648 upvotes
Montreal, QC
jellytot88 wrote: OK I have a noob question regarding what dollar amounts I enter into medical expenses, for prescription medications, covered by work insurance.

Let's say the total cost of a med (which I believe is the same as the "claimed" amount on my insurance statement) is $35 ($25 plus $10 dispensing fee). My work insurance covered $22, so I paid $13. Which value do I use as the medical expense?

Note medical expenses aren't listed on my T4.

Thanks in advance!
You would use the $13 value. It is the same if your insurance covers part of dental so that your dental visit cost was $200 and the insurance company reimbursed $180, you would claim $20 for this.

What I do is I log into the insurance company that my company uses (ManuLife) and just print out a report for the year which will show how much the expense was, how much the insurance paid, and how much, and how much I paid. I then use the value of how much I paid along with my other medical expenses not shown there.

Your T4 should show "85" as part of the premiums that you paid for the health insurance plan for your company which should be added/included in your medical expenses.
Deal Addict
Nov 13, 2013
4501 posts
3666 upvotes
Ottawa
Are you sure you will even get a deduction? There is a threshold based on income (3%). So in other words If your income is $50k only what exceeds $1500 is eligible.
Deal Addict
Apr 16, 2015
1462 posts
1867 upvotes
fogetmylogin wrote: Are you sure you will even get a deduction? There is a threshold based on income (3%). So in other words If your income is $50k only what exceeds $1500 is eligible.
Yes, but if you pay premiums for your health plan through payroll deductions, those are also deductible, which may get you over the 3% threshold.
Jr. Member
Oct 16, 2009
111 posts
30 upvotes
fogetmylogin wrote: Are you sure you will even get a deduction? There is a threshold based on income (3%). So in other words If your income is $50k only what exceeds $1500 is eligible.
Yes had several medical expenses so there is a good chance it will be over the threshold. However, does this threshold change if I file with my spouse? Meaning if my spouse's income is lower (or had no income), would that affect my threshold or my spouse's threshold, or otherwise affect the return?
Deal Addict
May 17, 2012
3197 posts
2220 upvotes
ontario
medical expenses should be used by the lower income earner based on that income threshold.

the issue i have is (and someone correct me if I am wrong), if you reduce the tax owing to 0 on the lower income earner and there are still medical expenses left to claim, you now have to 'qualify' again with the 3% rule for the higher income earner.
Deal Addict
Oct 23, 2017
2954 posts
2629 upvotes
GTA West
Having been audited twice for medical expenses, I start a new medical expense record right after I file my taxes, to ensure nothing gets lost. Shoppers gives you duplicate bottle labels as receipts. I peel those and stick them on a blank page. If I do work at the dentist's that is not covered by our benefit plan, I ask for the claim to be submitted anyway so that I have a record showing I have no coverage. Ditto for other CRA-eligible expenses we have no plan coverage for. So at tax time I already have an audit-ready paper trail that I can summarize in a spreadsheet.

Remember too that you can choose any 12 month period ending in the taxation year to calculate your expenses. That can work to your advantage and you can sometimes schedule say, expensive dental work to take advantage of this, to get as many expenses into one period as possible. And if you don't have enough medical expenses to get a tax benefit this year, you may be able to carry some of them forward to next year.

If you are married, you probably know that the spouse with the lowest income should claim all the medical expenses for both of you, to get the most refund.

Also, be sure to review the CRA's list of allowable medical expenses to ensure you don't miss out on anything that qualifies.
Deal Addict
Apr 16, 2015
1462 posts
1867 upvotes
esoxhntr wrote: medical expenses should be used by the lower income earner based on that income threshold.

the issue i have is (and someone correct me if I am wrong), if you reduce the tax owing to 0 on the lower income earner and there are still medical expenses left to claim, you now have to 'qualify' again with the 3% rule for the higher income earner.
If you both claim some of the medical expenses, you are both subject to the 3% threshold. So, if the lower income person doesn't have enough income to claim the full medical expenses, you have a couple of other options:
1) have the higher income person claim all of the medical expenses. Do the math for your particular circumstances, but this is usually better than both having to exceed the threshold
2) you can claim the medical expenses for any 12-month period ending in the year. So, you could claim expenses for June 2019-June 2020 on your 2020 return and save the rest for the 2021 return.

Top