Carney Liberals quietly restore free health benefits for fake refugees
Ottawa scraps co-payments for select medical services as refugee health costs surge from $211 million to nearly $900 million in four years.
The Carney government has quietly reversed some of its cost-saving cuts to taxpayer-funded health coverage for refugees and asylum claimants—even as tens of thousands of failed claimants remain in Canada’s deportation system.
Ottawa imposed co-payments under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) on May 1, requiring beneficiaries to pay $4 for each prescription and 30% of most supplemental health costs.
However, Ottawa quietly scrapped co-payments for several services on July 31, as first reported by the Toronto Star. They include feeding supplies, respiratory equipment, implantable hearing aids, nursing-home care and hospital-based rehabilitation
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab’s office characterized the reversal as a “routine update” and declined to say whether months of pressure from advocates influenced the decision.
The government said the restored benefits would affect only a “very small proportion” of recipients and would largely preserve the approximately $200 million in projected annual savings from the May changes.
