Asylum seekers to face brunt of IRCC cuts through co-payments of dental and prescription coverage: analysis

2026/02/19 Leave a comment

Of course, the large increase in asylum claimants is reflected in these numbers. Prescription co-payments are relatively small ($4) and it was increasingly untenable to provide asylum claimants better health care coverage that Canadians without an employer health coverage plan. And coverage of medical care at hospitals and by physicians is still covered:

“Almost half of the spending reduction in Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will come from a single cut to the health coverage of asylum seekers, according to a new analysis from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.”

“In the 2025 budget, the federal government announced that about a quarter of a billion dollars, or $231.9 million, will be cut from the health-care coverage of refugees in the 2027-28 fiscal year with what the government calls a “modest co-payment model” of 30 per cent.

All other cuts from IRCC in 2027-28 are estimated at around $315 million, according to the analysis.

Currently, most refugees are covered under the government’s Interim Federal Health Program, which provides the cost of most medical care until individuals are eligible for provincial or territorial insurance.

However, the federal government will continue to provide full coverage for emergency room visits and visits to a physician.

Dental and prescription co-payments for asylum seekers will begin on May 1 this year.

David Macdonald, author of the analysis and economist at the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, pointed out that costs could rise for the federal government, especially as low-income asylum seekers eschew costly preventative care leading to more emergency room visits.

““Asylum seekers come to Canada with little to nothing, since they’re escaping dangerous conditions. Most won’t be able to pay the extra costs and will simply avoid dental care and filling prescriptions — until an emergency rises,” Macdonald wrote.

Those individuals could “end up in Canada’s emergency rooms, which will also be paid by IRCC, but at 100 per cent of the cost, even though prevention is preferable and less expensive than the emergency room.”” …

Source: “Asylum seekers to face brunt of IRCC cuts through co-payments of dental and prescription coverage: analysis”

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with , ,

PBO: Projecting the Cost of the Interim Federal Health Program 

2026/02/14 2 Comments

Informative PBO Report:

Highlights

  • The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) provides limited and temporary healthcare coverage to some groups of foreign nationals who are not eligible for health insurance from provinces or territories.
  • PBO estimates that total IFHP costs will reach almost $1.0 billion in 2025‑26 and rise to over $1.5 billion by 2029‑30. PBO projects that annual growth in IFHP costs will average well below the average growth observed over the past five years, reflecting both a moderated increase in the number of beneficiaries and a more gradual rise in average annual costs.
  • Budget 2025 indicated that a “modest co-payment model” will be introduced to the Interim Federal Health Program for supplemental health products or services. This change to the program is not reflected in our projection. Including this new measure would reduce our estimate of the total cost for the IFHP program.

Summary

The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) provides “limited and temporary healthcare coverage to some groups of foreign nationals who are vulnerable and disadvantaged, and who are not eligible for health insurance from provinces or territories.”

Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the cost of the program grew from $211 million to $896 million as both the number of beneficiaries and the cost per beneficiary increased significantly. PBO estimates that total IFHP costs will reach almost $1.0 billion in 2025‑26 and rise to over $1.5 billion by 2029‑30 (Table S-1).Table S-1Projected IFHP cost, millions of dollars

2025­-262026­-272027­-282028­-292029­-30
Total cost9891,1041,2321,3761,522

We project that average annual growth for IFHP costs will be 11.2 per cent between 2025‑26 and 2029‑30, well below the 33.7 per cent average growth observed over the past five years. This slower growth reflects both a moderated increase in the number of beneficiaries and a more gradual rise in average annual costs.

Budget 2025 indicated that a “modest co-payment model” will be introduced to the Interim Federal Health Program for supplemental health products or services. This change to the program is not reflected in our projection. Including this new measure would reduce our estimate of the total cost for the IFHP program.

Source: Projecting the Cost of the Interim Federal Health Program

Toronto Sun commentary: LILLEY: False asylum claims drive refugee health-care program toward $1B price tag

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with ,

Urback: It is the right time – socially and economically – to scale back extended health benefits for refugees

2026/02/03 Leave a comment

Not seeing much pushback:

…The problem plaguing the IFHP both in 2012 and in 2026 is the perception of unfairness: Canada’s public health care system does not include coverage for extended services and prescriptions for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, but it does for those eligible for the IFHP. 

There are various arguments that justify that discrepancy, including the fact that refugees often arrive with complex medical needs after years of neglect, and it may be cheaper in the long run to treat them up front. There are various provincial programs that do cover the cost of prescriptions and extended services for low-income Canadians, but asylum-seekers will have more trouble navigating the complex bureaucracy, especially if there is a language barrier. IFHP keeps it simple. 

These arguments were more persuasive in 2012, when the program was a fraction of its current size, and there wasn’t the widespread perception that Canada’s refugee system was being abused. In 2012, roughly 128,000 people were covered by the IFHP. In 2024-2025, that number exploded to 623,365, with expenses totalling nearly $900-million. …

There’s also a social imperative for bringing refugee benefits closer in line with those afforded to Canadian citizens. That’s because, bluntly, the Trudeau government destroyed the immigration consensus in Canada; it brought in so many newcomers, so quickly, that integration was impossible and resentment inevitable. The Carney government is now tightening the rules for student visas, work permits, and asylum claimants, but it will take a lot more than a change in numbers for Canadians to again believe that immigration is a good thing, and to trust that our processes are rigorous and fair. 

Asking refugee-claimants to budget for prescriptions and extended coverage, as many other Canadians do, helps to ameliorate that wounded perception of fairness. Arguably the changes to the IFHP needs to go further, but this is a necessary first step. 

Source: It is the right time – socially and economically – to scale back extended health benefits for refugees

Filed under Refugees Tagged with ,

Feds want $411 million to cover refugee health care as the number of new arrivals soars

2024/11/25 Leave a comment

No surprise given rising numbers and equally no surprise that it is prompting questioning among some

The federal government is asking Parliament to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending to cover the health-care costs of eligible refugees and asylum seekers — a budget line item that has soared in recent years as the number of these newcomers reached record highs.

The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) is designed to cover migrants who don’t yet qualify for provincial or territorial medicare. By removing some barriers to health care, the program makes it easier for refugees — many of them fleeing conflict or persecution abroad — to get the care they need on arrival.

There’s also a public health benefit: it helps prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases in Canada.

Some resettled refugees receive health care through the IFHP for only a few months before transitioning to provincial plans. Some remain on the federal plan for much longer as they wait for their claims to be adjudicated — a process that now takes more than two years as Ottawa grapples with a mounting backlog.

The IFHP’s cost has soared from roughly $60 million in 2016 to a projected $411.2 million this year, easily outpacing inflation.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government curtailed the IFHP and eliminated coverage entirely for some refugees and asylum seekers as part of a push to reduce spending and balance the budget.

The Harper government also said it was unfair for taxpayers to be paying for a program that was, in some instances, much more generous than what’s available to some Canadian citizens and permanent residents through public health care.

The decision to cut the program prompted a wave of criticism and was ultimately deemed unconstitutional by a Federal Court judge.

Source: Feds want $411 million to cover refugee health care as the number of new arrivals soars

Filed under Immigration, Refugees Tagged with ,