The negative financial impacts after a breast cancer diagnosis can be strenuous, especially for those already in a precarious financial situation prior to being diagnosed. Already having to deal with the overwhelming feeling of being diagnosed with breast cancer, patients should be able to focus on their health and not have the added stress of dealing with their financial situation. That is why we created FinancialNavigator, an online database of various financial assistance programs across Canada.
Depending on your situation, your financial needs can come in different forms, from needing money to pay for rent, to needing help with paying for treatments, to requiring help with parking costs when you go for cancer treatments. To highlight the various types of programs listed in FinancialNavigator, we have put together this blogpost series. All the highlighted programs below are available to individuals in all provinces and territories, unless otherwise noted. This is not an exhaustive list all of programs in these categories but is meant to highlight the types of financial help that can be found in our FinancialNavigator database. Visit FinancialNavigator for all available financial assistance programs.
In this post, we highlight five government credit, benefit, and payment programs.
Employment Insurance Sickness Benefit
What you get:
- Up to 15 weeks of financial assistance if you can't work for medical reasons. You could receive 55% of your insurable earnings up to a maximum of $650 a week.
- The number of weeks of benefits you get depends on how long you’re unable to work for medical reasons. It also depends on your insurable earnings before taxes in the past 52 weeks or since the start of your last claim, whichever is shorter.
Eligibility requirements:
- You're unable to work for medical reasons,
- Your regular weekly earnings from work have decreased by more than 40% for at least 1 week, and
- Until December 18, 2022: you accumulated 420 insured hours of work in the 52 weeks before the start of your claim or since the start of your last claim, whichever is shorter.
Disability Tax Credit
What you get:
- A non-refundable tax credit.
Eligibility requirements:
- An impairment in physical or mental functions that has lasted, or is expected to last, for a continuous period of at least 12 months.
Medical Expense Tax Credit
What you get:
- Tax credits for
- mileage,
- meals,
- accommodation,
- devices,
- drugs,
- and other medical needs.
Eligibility requirements:
- Medical expenses must be expenses that were paid by you, your spouse, or your common-law partner in the given tax year that wasn’t paid for in the previous tax year.
Old Age Security Pension
What you get:
- Taxable monthly payments up to $698.60 per month.
- The amount received is determined by your personal situation.
Eligibility requirements:
- Have an annual income of less than $134,626.
- If you live in Canada, you must
- be 65 years old or older,
- be a Canadian citizen or a legal resident at the time of application approval, and
- have lived in Canada for at least 10 years since the age of 18.
- If you live outside Canada, you must
- be 65 years old or older,
- have been a Canadian citizen or a legal resident on the day before you left Canada, and
- have lived in Canada for at least 20 years since the age of 18.
Guaranteed Income Supplement
What you get:
- Non-taxable monthly payments up to $1043.45 per month.
- The amount received is determined by your personal situation.
Eligibility requirements:
- You must be 65 or older,
- live in Canada,
- receive the Old Age Security (OAS) pension, and
- have an income that is below
- $21,168 if you are single, widowed, or divorced, or
- the combined total income of you and your spouse/common-law partner is below
- $27,984 if your spouse/common-law partner receives the full OAS pension
- $39,168 if your spouse/common-law partner does not receive an OAS pension
- $50,736 if your spouse/common-law partner receives the Allowance
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