MPs in the House of Commons will vote Tuesday on a Conservative motion that asks the Liberal government to review the health-care benefits available to asylum claimants and restrict benefits for those whose claims have failed.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner’s Opposition day motion also pushes the Liberal government to “pass policies to immediately expel foreign nationals convicted of serious crime in Canada.”

Rempel Garner said she wants the health care that failed claimants receive restricted to “emergency, life-saving health care only,” echoing a similar move by the Harper government in 2012.

Refugees in Canada receive health care from the federal government through the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) which covers most of the medical care that Canadians get under their provincial or territorial health services.

Basic services provided by the IFHP include access to hospital, doctor, ambulance and lab diagnostic services, such as blood tests and ultrasounds. 

Supplemental coverage includes access to counselling, occupational therapists, prosthetics and mobility aids, urgent dental care and limited vision care among others.  

Rempel Garner says this supplemental coverage is a step too far because it pays for things that aren’t covered for Canadians.

“Failed asylum claimants, people who made refugee claims but had their claims invalidated through Canadian due process, are given access to better health care than Canadians,” Rempel Garner said.

She also called out the rising annual costs of the IFHP which the government pegged at almost $900 million annually in 2025-26.

Rising costs of refugee health care

A recent report from the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) found that 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.”

That report predicts the cost of the program will increase to $1.5 billion annually by 2029-30.

The PBO said that while the overall costs of the IFHP will continue to rise between 2025-26 and 2029-30, the growth rate in those years will be just over 11 per cent, compared to the almost 34 per cent average annual growth in costs for the previous five years.

“This slower growth reflects both a moderated increase in the number of beneficiaries and a more gradual rise in average annual costs,” the report said.

That is an administrative problem, not a refugee health problem– NDP MP Jenny Kwan

The report did not take into account cost-saving measures coming this spring.

A copayment system kicks in on May 1 and requires people who receive care under IFHP to pay $4 for each eligible prescription they get and 30 per cent of the cost of all other supplemental health services.

People can lose coverage if they withdraw or abandon their claim or if the claim is deemed ineligible and does not qualify to enter the appeal process. 

The IFHP also provides health care to refugee claimants outside of Canada who have been approved but need vaccinations or medical support for their journey. 

A key reason for the dramatic spike in the cost of the IFHP is the rising number of asylum claims in recent years. In 2020 there were about 19,000 claims filed in Canada but that rose to more than 190,000 by 2024. That number dropped significantly last year as Canada only saw about 83,000 claims from January to September.

A backlog in the system of nearly 300,000 claims, however, means the cost of the IFHP system is still growing. Rempel Garner says that’s because many of those claims will take years to be processed, and in the meantime Canadians are paying for health care for people that could eventually be removed from the country for filing ineligible claims. 

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said a number of measures in Bill C-12, which has passed the House and and is currently in the Senate, gives the government powers it says will help it reject ineligible applications more quickly.  

“I’m looking very much forward to implementing the immigration provisions that are in that bill,” Diab said on the way into Parliament. 

She said the measures in the bill “will help us protect our border, but also ensure that we reduce the asylum numbers by curbing the number of people that are coming and claiming fraudulently, [while] also protecting those that are really vulnerable and need Canada’s protection.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked Prime Minister Mark Carney if he would support the Conservative motion during question period in the House of Commons.

“The prime minister claims he is getting [immigration and asylum] under control but it’s all an illusion. He’s just another Liberal,” Poilievre said. “There has been a 3,000 per cent increase in refugee claims under his out-of-control system. Will he rein it in, support our motion and put Canadians first for a change?”

Carney said that in the nearly one year since he took office, asylum claims are down by a third, student visas have been cut by 60 per cent and the number of temporary foreign workers have been cut by half.

“We have the immigration system under control and we are supplying the health care Canadians need,” he said.

An echo of Harper’s 2012 cuts

NDP MP Jenny Kwan told the House of Commons Tuesday during debate on the motion that the skyrocketing costs to the IFHP are related to the backlog of cases and refugees shouldn’t bear the brunt of those delays.

“That is an administrative problem, not a refugee health problem,” she said. “The solution is clear: accelerate [a] fair and timely claim process.” 

Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative government cut almost all supplemental health-care benefits under the IFHP — restricting care to that which was deemed urgent or essential.

The changes cut care to refugees from specific countries of origin that were considered safe and claimants whose applications had failed. Prescriptions, dentist visits, vision care and mobility assistance were among the coverage areas cut. 

The Federal Court struck down the changes saying the government’s treatment of refugees was “cruel and unusual.” Harper’s government promised to appeal the decision in 2014, but when the Liberals won the 2015 federal election the appeal was withdrawn and services were restored. 

“The motion is very concerning and reflects attempts to strip refugees of health care that a [Conservative Party of Canada] government tried in 2012,” said Gauri Sreenivasan, the co-executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

“These are measures that the courts have rejected, Canadian doctors have rejected and Canadians have rejected,” she said.