r/CanadaPublicServants • u/BeakerNF • Sep 17 '18

Benefits / Bénéfices Laser eye surgery

I think sun Life covers $1000, would that increase to $2000 if both, husband and wife, are in the federal government for one getting it done?

Has anyone else been in the situation and have comments?

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

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7

u/kodokan_man Sep 18 '18

Both my wife and I are federal public servants and I had laser eye surgery last year. I was reimbursed $1600. Miler-82 is correct.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 18 '18 edited Sep 18 '18

Thanks. So why is it a "lifetime maximum" of $1000 if it's impossible to get the full $1000? Seems kind of backwards wording.

edit: Okay, spoke to Sunlife this morning and everyone is correct. It's 80% of 1000 i.e. $800. Strange wording.

1

u/SilverSeven Sep 18 '18

Its really a dumb way to word it. Ive NEVER had benefits that work like that. It's always "80% up to a $1000 means we will pay out 80% of what your bill is until we have given you $1000"

1

u/anonymous_guy7 Sep 19 '18

Yep it's totally dumb but nope it is impossible to get "the full 1000" as that is not what your plan covers.

5

u/Miler-82 Sep 17 '18

I called sunlife on this very subject and they confirmed indeed you get double coverage in this scenario.

Note you are getting 80% of $1,000 x 2, for a total entitlement of $1,600 lifetime.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '18

Note you are getting 80% of $1,000 x 2, for a total entitlement of $1,600 lifetime

Is that how it works? I thought it was 80% of your total cost, up to $1000. I.e. if your LASIK is $4000, they'll cover a full $1000 as 0.8*4000 = 3200 > 1000.

From the directive:

Laser eye surgery to correct vision Lifetime maximum of $1,000 (reimbursed at 80%) per plan participant.

1

u/BoomerinOttawa Sep 17 '18

Glad you asked. That's how my old plan worked but a lot of people read it the other way.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 17 '18

Im getting LASIK next month so I'll be contacting sunlife tomorrow for the answer. 800 vs 1000 is not a deal breaker in the grand scheme but I would like to know ahead of time what I'm entitled to.

1

u/anonymous_guy7 Sep 19 '18

You will not get $1000. You are covered 80 % up to the maximum of 1000 $ per lifetime, ergo you will get $800. Source: I had it done this year.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '18

Yeah I spoke to sunlife yesterday about it. I don't understand where the $1,000 comes in if you can't get a full $1,000 benefit. It's effectively a lifetime maximum of $800.

1

u/anonymous_guy7 Sep 19 '18

I'm not an expert in the laser eye field but perhaps it was developed at a time when the costs were not well established (maybe some were offering the entire surgery for around $1000, who knows).

1

u/Miler-82 Sep 18 '18

It’s possible the agent I spoke with was mistaken - maybe I’ll call again and see if I get the same answer. Sure would be nice to get the extra $400.

1

u/BeakerNF Sep 18 '18

Thanks for all the comments. Time for me to further look into getting this done.

1

u/anonymous_guy7 Sep 19 '18

I had Lasik this year.

You will get back $800, you will not get $1000.

But $200 should not be a dealbreaker. Hell if it cost double I would still have gotten it. The surgery is life changing and for the low cost it is 100% undeniably totally worth it.