The Independent Financial Brokers of Canada (IFB) announced on Monday that it has joined forces with a coalition of associations, including the Toronto-based Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc. (CLHIA), in a campaign objecting to a possible federal tax on private health-care plans.
The IFB stresses in its notice that it’s concerned that if the premiums become taxable, many employers — especially smaller employers — will discontinue or reduce coverage, leaving thousands of Canadians without affordable means to access extended health, dental and other mental and physical care services, not covered under provincial health-care plans.
Approximately 24 million Canadians are covered under private or employer sponsored benefit plans, the IFB’s notice says.
“At a time when provincial health-care systems are already strained, implementing this tax will reduce private coverage and push people back into the public health-care system,” says Nancy Allan, the IFB’s executive director.
“This change would affect our members on both a business and personal level,” she adds. “We felt it was essential to engage our members and their clients, to ensure the federal government and elected officials understand just how negative the impacts of this change could be.”
In addition to the IFB and CLHIA, the coalition includes the Canadian Dental Association, the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, the Canadian Association of Optometrists, the Canadian Chiropractic Association, the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, Speech-Language & Audiology Canada, Dietitians of Canada, the Canadian Dental Hygienists Association, the Canadian Psychological Association and the Organizations for Health Action.
For more about the coalition and the campaign, visit: http://donttaxmyhealthbenefits.ca/
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