10 May 2012 - Update: The CCR has received information confirming that refugee claimants (whether or not from a ‘Designated Country of Origin’), rejected refugee claimants and protected persons diagnosed with HIV will continue to be covered under the Interim Federal Health program. This coverage includes costs of medical consultations and prescribed medication. The CCR remains concerned that there will be persons who excluded from this coverage for HIV treatment (eg. persons ineligible to claim refugee status, persons with abandoned/withdrawn claims, persons eligible for the PRRA only), and that there will be no medical coverage at all for many other serious medical needs.
The CCR reiterates its position that these cuts are inhumane and unjustified.
Canadian Council for Refugees
Media release
For immediate release
3 May 2012
Government information on refugee healthcare changes is misleading and the consequences may be fatal to many
The Canadian government’s recent announcement on changes to the Interim Federal Health Program[1] is based on misleading information. This is all the more deplorable because the stakes are a matter of life and death to many refugee claimants, resettled refugees (with government assistance or privately sponsored), and other protected persons in Canada.
“Thousands of people now receiving medication for everything from epilepsy and childhood respiratory illnesses to cancer and AIDS will no longer have access as of 30 June 2012,” according to CCR President Wanda Yamamoto. “Will it take some deaths for the government to change its mind?”
In its public information, the government presents the changes as aimed at reducing “extra” healthcare coverage supposedly provided to refugee claimants, compared with what Canadians receive.
In fact the government’s own figures show that the per capita cost for refugee claimants under the IFHP is only about 10% of the average per capita cost for Canadians. According to information provided with the 25 April announcement, the IFHP program costs a total of $84.6 million in 2011-12. The Explanatory Note accompanying the Order in Council mentions that 128,000 persons were covered by IFHP during that fiscal year. This amounts to a cost of $660 per refugee claimant per year.
Similarly, in response to a 2010 access to information request by the CCR, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) provided a figure of $46 per month ($552 per year) for IFHP costs per refugee claimant. By comparison, according to CIC’s own figures, the current overall per capita cost for health and social services for Canadians is $6,141.[2] “Cuts to life-sustaining medication and treatment can never be justified, and are all the more perplexing in the context of such modest costs per person,” Ms. Yamamoto added.
Further, the statement that the IFHP provides better services than provincial medical plans in some areas, such as prescription drug coverage, is misleading. While it is true that prescription drug coverage is not part of basic provincial and territorial health insurance plans, the reality is that most very low income Canadians do benefit from free prescription medication through provincial drug care plans. This is notably the case in Ontario, Québec and B.C., the three provinces with the largest numbers of refugee claimants arriving annually. However, refugee claimants do not have access to these provincial plans as they require acceptance as a refugee or as a permanent resident to be eligible.
This will leave refugee claimants with no medication coverage whatsoever under the IFHP and no access to provincial plans. There has been no prior consultation with non-governmental stakeholders on these drastic changes and, it appears, no prior consultation with provincial governments either.
The minister’s announcement will, as well, take away these benefits from those refugees selected overseas by the government and resettled in Canada - some of whom are referred to Canada for protection because of their medical needs. If Canada is going to select refugees with high medical needs and bring them to Canada, as the government has been doing for a number of years, then the government also bears a responsibility to make sure those medical needs are cared for once the refugees are here.
The CCR is also seriously concerned about the implications these changes hold for the private sponsorship program. Private sponsors will now be responsible not only for income support but also for medical costs for one year after arrival. CIC recently announced that they would be shifting 1,000 refugees annually from the Government-Assisted Refugee (GAR) program to the Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program by decreasing the GAR target and increasing the PSR target (1,000 Visa Office Referred refugees) in a blended program to be phased in over the next couple of years. The IFHP changes are going to be a serious deterrent to those sponsors who they hope will pick these cases up.
The CCR further deplores the unprecedented launching of a petition by Minister Kenney himself in support of the changes he announced. The petition repeats that the IFHP “has been providing better health care services to refugee claimants than Canadians, including Canadian seniors and new Canadians”.
The CCR considers this not only misleading, for the reasons explained above, but also deplorable in that it attempts to pit one group of vulnerable persons for whom the Minister is responsible (refugee claimants) against other vulnerable social groups. Further, given that changes to the IFHP are of an administrative nature and entirely within the Minister’s powers to implement, the recourse to a “petition” appears aimed only at misinforming the public and drawing attention to the changes.
The Canadian government previously sought to counter misinformation about refugees receiving better treatment than Canadians.[3] The government now seeks to promote such misinformation.
The CCR calls upon the Canadian government to immediately suspend these changes, scheduled to enter into effect on 30 June 2012, and to hold consultations with all concerned stakeholders on any future changes.
Contact:
Colleen French, Communication and Networking Coordinator, (514) 277-7223, ext. 1, (514) 476-3971 (cell), cfrench@ccrweb.ca
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1 Interim Federal Health Program, http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/goc/interim_health.shtml
2 Operational Bulletin 373 of 30 December 2011 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2011/ob373.asp
3 See information on the CIC website debunking myths that refugees receive more assistance than Canadian pensioners: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/facts/aid.asp