Eligible expenses
What can you claim?
Eligible expenses are determined by the Canada Revenue Agency, the same list used for the medical expense tax credit. It's a long list: dental, optical, prescriptions, and far more than most group plans cover. Search it below.
Eligible expenses(120)
- Acoustic coupler
- Acupuncture
- Air conditioner (medical need)
- Air filter, cleaner or purifier
- Altered auditory feedback devices
- Ambulance service
- Artificial eye or limb
- Assisted breathing devices
- Attendant care expenses
- Audible signal devices
- Baby breathing monitor
- Bathroom aids
- Bliss symbol boards
- Blood coagulation monitors
- Bone conduction receiver
- Bone marrow transplant
- Braces for a limb
- Braille note-taker devices
- Braille printers, synthetic speech systems and large print-on-screen devices
- Breast prosthesis
- Cancer treatment
- Cannabis, with a doctor's authorization (medical document), from a licensed seller
- Catheters, catheter trays and tubing
- Chiropractic services
- Cochlear implant
- Computer peripherals (for an impairment)
- Crutches
- Deaf-blind intervening services
- Dental services
- Dentures and dental implants
- Diapers or disposable briefs (medical need)
- Doctor and physician services
- Driveway access alterations
- Drugs and medical devices bought under Health Canada's Special Access Program
- Elastic support hose
- Electrolysis
- Electronic bone healing device
- Electronic speech synthesizers
- Electrotherapy devices
- Extremity pump
- Eyeglasses and contact lenses (vision devices)
- Fertility: in vitro fertility program
- Furnace (medical need)
- Gluten-free products (celiac disease)
- Group benefit plan premiums you pay by payroll deduction: the health & dental portion (e.g., Sunlife)
- Group home expenses
- Hearing aids
- Heart monitoring devices
- Hospital bed
- Hospital services
- Ileostomy and colostomy pads
- Infusion pump
- Insulin or substitutes
- Kidney machine
- Laboratory procedures or services
- Laryngeal speaking aids
- Laser eye surgery
- Lift or transportation equipment
- Liver extract injections
- Medical certificates
- Medical services provided by qualified medical practitioners
- Medical services received outside of Canada
- Moving expenses (to accessible housing)
- Naturopathic services (ND)
- Needles and syringes
- Note-taking services
- Nurse
- Nursing home
- Optical scanners
- Organ transplant
- Orthodontic work
- Orthopaedic shoes, boots and inserts
- Osteogenesis stimulator (inductive coupling)
- Oxygen and oxygen tent
- Oxygen concentrator
- Pacemakers
- Page-turner devices
- Personal health plan premiums (e.g., Blue Cross)
- Personalized therapy plan
- Phototherapy equipment
- Physiotherapy
- Power-operated chair
- Premiums paid to a private health services plan
- Pre-natal and post-natal treatments
- Prescription drugs and medications
- Pressure pulse therapy devices
- Reading services
- Real-time captioning
- Reconstructive surgery (medically necessary)
- Rehabilitative therapy
- Renovation or construction expenses (accessibility)
- Respite care expenses
- School for persons with an impairment in physical or mental functions
- Scooter
- Service animals
- Sign-language interpretation services
- Spinal brace
- Standing devices
- Talking textbooks
- Teletypewriters
- Television closed-caption decoders
- Tests (medical)
- Therapy
- Training (related to a medical condition)
- Travel expenses for medical care (conditions apply)
- Treatment centre
- Truss for hernia
- Tutoring services (for an impairment)
- Vaccines
- Van (wheelchair-adapted)
- Vehicle modification
- Visual or vibratory signalling devices
- Vitamin B12 injections
- Voice recognition software
- Volume control feature (additional)
- Walking aids
- Water filter, cleaner or purifier (medical need)
- Wheelchairs and wheelchair carriers
- Whirlpool bath treatments
- Wigs (medical need)
Not eligible(13)
- Athletic or fitness club fees
- Birth control devices (non-prescription)
- Blood pressure monitors
- Purely cosmetic procedures
- Life insurance, AD&D and disability portions of group benefit premiums
- Diaper services
- Health plan premiums paid by an employer and not included in your income
- Health programs
- Organic foods
- Over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements, even if prescribed by a medical practitioner
- Personal response systems such as Lifeline and Health Line services
- Provincial and territorial health plan premiums
- Travel expenses for which you can be reimbursed
Two favourites most people miss
Premiums you already pay elsewhere. Your share of group benefits deducted from a paycheque (say, a spouse's Sunlife plan at their corporate job) and personal plans like Blue Cross are themselves eligible expenses. The health and dental portion you pay qualifies; the employer-paid share and any life, AD&D, or disability portions don't. And anything the other plan reimbursed can't be claimed again. Pay stubs or an annual benefits statement are your receipt.
Medical cannabis. Eligible with a doctor's authorization (a medical document) when purchased from a licensed seller. Keep the authorization with your receipts.
Every receipt needs
- Patient name
- Date of service
- Cost of the service
- Proof of payment
- Provider's designation (e.g., MD, ND, RMT)
Receipts must be originals, not copies. In the portal you simply photograph or upload each receipt with your claim.
The fine print, plainly
CRA determines which expenses are eligible, and its list changes from time to time. Medallion Health is not responsible for CRA's determinations. Many borderline items qualify when prescribed by a doctor, so keep the prescription with your receipt. When in doubt, ask us before you claim.
CRA's full list (publication RC4065) →Not sure whether something qualifies? Ask us. A real person will answer.