CRA’s website may suggest that the costs of a CGM are eligible medical expenses for tax purposes – “Infusion pump including disposable peripherals used in treating diabetes, or a device designed to allow a person with diabetes to measure blood sugar levels.” Are any Canadians successfully claiming the costs of sensors/transmitters/receivers?
I claimed my CGM receiver, transmitter, and sensors last year and it seemed to be fine. I plan on doing the same this year. I pay for everything out of pocket, so claiming it on taxes helps a bit, at least.
I just found out about the disability tax credit this year, which really helps cover all of these expenses. You can apply up to 10 years back too!
I have spoken with CRA and they agreed on the phone that glucose sensors are eligible expenses. I claim mine.
@Scott_Eric I applied for disability tax credit this year and was declined. Was your application approved?
I would like to know how many readers have applied here and how many were approved. I spoke with CRA about the denial of my application but they weren’t very helpful.
Yep, I was approved. Have you spoken to your endo? My endo was familiar with it and helped me fill out all the paperwork properly. He had me give him a chart showing how much time I spend managing diabetes throughout each day and submitted a letter with my application.
While I’m not Canadian, I’m curious about this. If you don’t mind the question, how much time do you need to take care of your diabetes each day? I think that so many moments are isolated as to make the day thoroughly fragmented and difficult to count. The cumulative number is likely more than most people with diabetes realize.
I believe that ongoing education is essential to good diabetes health. For me, participating here, makes me aware of how the rapidly changing diabetes field interacts with the real world. Would that time count? I also think that the amount of time we each spend on our diabetes varies, like everything else! I think I spend a great deal more time than the average person but I enjoy the dividends it pays and I remain motivated to continue.
You have to spend 14 hours a week in tasks directly related to diabetes care. Some things, like counting carbohydrates (reading labels, weighing food, searching nutritional databases), don’t count even though I think they should!
Unrelated, but anyone who receives the DTC is also eligible to start a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), which is a really good investment.
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I am waiting to see my Endo. My family doc filled out the forms but he is less familiar than Endo. Would you be willing to share the chart? I believe you can email me directly if you prefer
@Terry4 This is from the CRA website. CRA is Canadian equivalent of IRS
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4064/rc4064-e.html#lst
Life-sustaining therapy – You must meet both of the following criteria:
- the therapy is needed to support a vital function, even if it eases the symptoms; and
- the therapy is needed at least 3 times per week, for an average of at least 14 hours per week.
You must dedicate time for the therapy – that is, you have to take time away from your normal, everyday activities to receive it. It includes the time you need to set up a portable device.
If your therapy requires a regular dosage of medication that needs to be adjusted daily, the time spent on activities directly related to determining the dosage and administering the medication can be counted in the 14 hours per week requirement. For example:
checking blood glucose levels;
preparing and administering the insulin;
calibrating necessary equipment;
testing ketones; or
keeping a log book of blood glucose levels.
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I get the disability tax credit, and have been for several years (due to also having lupus and bipolar disorder). In order to qualify for the credit, you must meet at least one of the following criteria:
-be blind
-be markedly restricted in at least one of the basic activities of daily living
-be significantly restricted in two or more or the basic activities of daily living (can include a vision impairment)
-need life-sustaining therapy
In addition, the impairment must meet all of the following:
is prolonged, which means the impairment has lasted, or is expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months
is present all or substantially all the time (at least 90% of the time)
For diabetes, the obvious qualifying criteria is needing life-sustaining therapy.
In order to qualify under that classification, you must meet both of the following criteria:
-the therapy is needed to support a vital function, even if it eases the symptoms
-the therapy is needed at least 3 times per week, for an average of at least 14 hours a week
What counts in the 14 hours requirement?
You must dedicate the time for the therapy – that is, you have to take time away from your normal, everyday activities to receive it. It includes the time you need to set up a portable device. For example, you may have to dedicate time for chest physiotherapy to ease breathing or need kidney dialysis to filter blood.
If your therapy requires a regular dosage of medication that needs to be adjusted daily, the time spent on activities directly related to determining the dosage and administering the medication can be counted in the 14 hours per week requirement. For example, time spent on the following activities for insulin therapy:
-checking blood glucose levels
-preparing and administering the insulin
-calibrating necessary equipment
-testing ketones
-keeping a log book of blood glucose levels
However, some activities do not count in the 14 hours per week requirement, such as:
-the time a portable or implanted device takes to deliver the therapy (such as an insulin pump, a CPAP machine, or a pacemaker)
-activities related to dietary restrictions or regimes, even when these activities are a factor in determining the daily dosage of medication (such as carbohydrate calculation)
-activities related to exercising, even when these activities are a factor in determining the daily dosage of medication
-travel time to receive the therapy
-going to medical appointments (other than appointments where the therapy is received)
-buying medication
-recuperation after therapy
I would imagine that managing type 1 diabetes alone would easily take up 14 hours a week. It might be harder for type 2s to qualify because the government doesn’t consider things like a cgm or an insulin pump “life sustaining” for them (my type 2 father was denied for years, even though he was on insulin, until her started having neuropathy in his feet that significantly impacted his ability to walk).
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I can’t remember how much time it works out to, but it definitely takes up way more time than most people realize. Whatever, been doing it for 10+ years and I can’t remember not living this way. I think it’s strange that most people just eat without any carb counting and exercise whenever they want without thinking about lows or glucose tablets. Non-diabetics are weird…
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I just did some quick calculations. Maybe I’m seriously under-estimating the amount of time it takes me to do things, but it takes a minute max to do a fingerstick, so if I do post-prandials and a bedtime (and otherwise use CGM), that’s 7 minutes a day. I probably spend 10 minutes a day looking at my CGM. Delivering insulin via Omnipod – three meals and a correction or two, so 5 minutes a day tops. Changing my pod twice a week, 5 minutes each time. Occasional adjustments to basals and ratios, couple of minutes. All the time I spend thinking about my diabetes and how what I’m doing or eating affects it is constant, unending, but far from quantifiable.
So I’m up to just under 3 hours a week. What the heck does one do to fill up the other required 11 hours?
Good to know. Thanks, Jen.
I found out about the DTC this year too. You can claim back something like 10 years so it can work out to a significant amount of money.
For kids, you do not need to prove the 14 hours. My understanding it that the courts have decided that all parents of T1 kids qualify for the DTC and all you need is the doctor’s signature.
For adults, I understand that it is a bit of a crap shoot whether CRA will approve or not. I recently asked my endo, he will sign as long as I can document that I spend the 14 hours but cautioned that CRA rejects the vast majority of applications, even when they look the same. I expect I could come up with 14 hours, but will really have to document it to be sure.
It also seems counter-initiative that I would like to spend less time on diabetes but having a 14 hour requirement may cause me to seek treatment options that result in me spending more time on diabetes to meet the requirements.
I support the Diabetes Canada stand on this issue.
Wow, I didn’t know that about the kids and the disability tax credit. All I know is that we receive it and I’m not complaining! I would at least apply for it, the worst that can happen is that they say no.
There should be a petition we can sign to have all type 1’s covered!
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I did the same calculation was under 14 hours and my endo refused to support my application for the disability tax credit. Hefelt it was only valid for parents of T1 children.
This page is an excellent resource of how to qualify for the DTC: Disability Tax Credit for people with diabetes | Diabetes Advocacy
People may also find this Facebook group helpful: Disability Tax Credit And RDSP (Canadians Only) | Facebook
Hi there, I was wondering if you could answer a couple questions for a fellow type 1 Canadian re: the DTC. I applied in december and was quickly rejected, on the basis of the form being incomplete. The section on the “effects of prolongued impairment” wasn’t filled in by my doctor and I read elsewhere that this was necessary. So I went back and got the form re-filled, with a complete breakdown of all the valid tasks I do which add up to more than 14 hours a week on average (easily).
My question is: did you send in your blood sugar logbooks with the application? Or did you just give a breakdown of all the tasks adding up to 14+ hours a week.
I also sent in a hospital visit report showing I collapsed due to hypo unawareness, thereby showing that extensive testing is indeed life-sustaining, and that if I didn’t dedicate so much time to management I might be hospitalized more often or possibly even die. This my doctor also concurred with and wrote as a rationale for needing all this time spent. Does this sound similar to what your Dr put on your own T2201 form?
I’m just wondering what materials I should have handy when I speak to them again this week, and possibly submit via the CRA website for DTC. They are in the process of re-evaluating my case after I appealed their decision, so I want to make sure I do it right.
I’ll pay it forward by helping any other type 1s in the future get the form, I don’t think anyone with this disease can really be considered to have their life unaffected such that they wouldn’t deserve a little break from the government. Our lives are harder than those of healthy people, I’m 1000% certain.
I looked into it and my personal opinion is that, while YDMV, in general it is really a stretch for T1 adults to claim that they honestly spend over 14 hours on the CRA listed tasks. The “sample” schedule on http://www.diabetesadvocacy.com/DTC.htm is clearly backwards engineered to achieve a total of just over 14 hours. For example, spending literally 4.5 hours a week solely on injections is ludicrous.
Since I would need to really stretch the truth/blatantly lie to apply for DTC, I’ve decided not to do so. For those individuals with particular extra needs where they truly qualify I’m glad this program exists, but I hope there isn’t too much abuse.
Yes everyone is different, but I don’t think there is a type 1 who could abuse this tax credit or any others that are offered. I don’t agree that it is a stretch or lie for most adults to qualify. This is a costly, time-consuming disease, and many of us spend far more than 14 hours/week managing it and spending money out of our own pockets. Any tax relief available is necessary and there should be more help than there currently is. CGMs are not covered by most private insurance plans and the provincial pump reimbursement doesn’t pay enough for those who use the Omnipod, or even for tubed pump supplies if you actually were to change the tubes and reservoirs as often as the companies say we should. Many private insurance plans only reimburse 80% of insulin and strips and do not pay dispensing fees. For people who are self-employed, private insurance is unaffordable for diabetics and forces some people to pay out of pocket for prescriptions.
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