Asylum seekers from Congo cross the border at Roxham Road into Canada, on Feb. 9, 2023, in Champlain, New York. The crossing has since been closed. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
The federal government has restarted some of its temporary healthcare coverage for refugees and asylum seekers, months after slashing benefits for the groups.
Ottawa introduced changes to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) earlier this year following a pledge to lower funding for it. The program was created in 1957 to provide limited and temporary health-care coverage to foreign nationals deemed vulnerable and disadvantaged. But the IFHP’s costs have exploded in recent years, as more asylum seekers and refugees have come to Canada.
Starting in May, most people in the program would be required to pay 30 percent of the costs for health services, assistive devices, and medical supplies that had previously been covered, as well as $4 for each eligible prescription medication filled or refilled.
Last week, the insurance provider for the program revealed that items like feeding supplies, respiratory devices, hearing aids, and services like nursing homes would be moved to a different coverage tier and co-payments would be scrapped.
According to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada, the IFHP provided healthcare coverage to 623,365 eligible beneficiaries in fiscal year 2024–2025, including 440,537 asylum claimants, and the total expenses were $896.5 million.
A Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report from May said spending on supplementary benefits like medication, vision care, dental care, and counselling grew from $95 million in 2019–2020 to more than $457 million in 2024–25.
The PBO report said that around 74,000 failed refugee claimants were still eligible for health care coverage in Canada. This included 22,682 people scheduled for removal from Canada by the Canada Border Services Agency that were “temporarily suspended due to factors such as litigation stays.”
Immigration Minister Lena Diab reacted to the PBO report in Parliament on May 26, noting the government had reduced the number of temporary workers and asylum seekers in Canada and saved taxpayers money. She also said the PBO report showed that there would be “substantial savings” to the IFHP program in the next three years.
The PBO report said that the federal government’s
for supplementary health products, services, and prescriptions was projected to reduce the federal portion of the IFHP by $217 million annually by 2029–30.
On Aug. 6, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani responded to the IFHP news by saying on X that “while Canadians can’t find family doctors and our hospitals are overcrowded, Carney Liberals continue to burden the healthcare system with bad immigration policy.”
While the Conservative Party introduced a
in the House of Commons in February to review and cut health benefits for asylum claimants, the motion failed on Feb. 25, with the Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, NDP, and Green Party voting against it.
