Ottawa will fully restore all refugee health care benefits by April 1, Canada’s Liberal government announced Thursday, reversing a controversial policy initiated by the previous Conservative government.
Speaking at a joint announcement in Ottawa on Thursday, Immigration Minister John McCallum and Health Minister Jane Philpott said the Interim Federal Health Program, which provides health-care coverage for asylum claimants and refugees, will be restored to pre-2012 levels.
“All refugee claimants and refugees will now be covered,” said McCallum. “The system had disintegrated into something of such enormous complexity that it was virtually unmanageable.”
The government of then Prime Minister Stephen Harper scaled back refugee health-care benefits in 2012, claiming it wanted to deter “bogus” refugees from coming to Canada and save about $20 million in taxpayers money.
The policy was challenged in the Federal Court, which found that the changes were unconstitutional and ordered the government to reinstate the benefits. The Harper government restored some of the benefits but launched an appeal of the court’s decision, which the Liberals eventually dropped as soon as they were sworn in early November.
In addition, McCallum and Jane Philpott announced Thursday that starting April 1, 2017, additional coverage would be offered to refugees before their departure for Canada, to cover:
- Medical examinations required for immigration.
- Vaccinations.
- Treatment of disease outbreaks in refugee camps.
- Medical support during travel to Canada.
Reinstating federal coverage also lowers costs for provinces and territories, said Philpott.
“There will be one path. Refugees, … whatever category they will fall into, they will be eligible for the basic levels of care in addition to some supplementary levels of care. And this will help refugees, it will help health-care providers and it will help Canadians,” she said.
Refugees unable to access routine medical services were ending up in hospital emergency rooms, often with conditions that would have been far less serious and less expensive to treat if they were caught and managed proactively earlier.
Refugees who need prescription drugs, vision care and urgent dental care will now have coverage similar to what provinces and territories provide to Canadians on social assistance.
McCallum said the changes would be covered within the $51 million already allocated for the interim federal health program in the current budget framework.
Restoring health care for all refugees is estimated to cost $5.9 million annually. Extending the pre-departure services next year could cost $5.6 million annually.
With files from CBC News
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.