Federal health cuts affecting refugees, asylum seekers will put more pressure on emergency departments, advocates say

Starting Friday, refugees and asylum seekers will have to cover 30 per cent of the bill for supplemental health products and services due to federal spending cuts, but critics say the policy will backfire as vulnerable people end up in hospital.

The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) provides temporary health care coverage to vulnerable and disadvantaged people who aren’t eligible for provincial or territorial health insurance.

The new co-payments will apply to dental and vision care, mental health counselling, assistive devices such as prosthetics and wheelchairs, medical supplies, and other expenses. IFHP beneficiaries will also pay $4 out-of-pocket for every prescription filled or refilled.

The changes will place a new burden on people with serious physical and mental health issues that may have accumulated for years, says Ammar Younus, settlement manager for the Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area (MAGMA).

“Most of these people, they didn’t receive regular dental care,” Younus said. “So when they arrive here, they arrive with a lot of issues that need immediate care. Many of them will arrive with medical issues that were not treated before or under-treated.”

People traumatized by war, torture, or domestic violence will be unable to afford the 30 per cent co-payment for mental health counselling in many cases, Younus said.

He believes that will lead to increased pressure on already overburdened hospitals.

“If you have psychological trauma that was not taken care of, you might be in a psychological breakdown,” he said.

People are also likely to be hospitalized with issues such as abscessed teeth, he added.

The Canadian Medical Association has raised similar concerns, saying the policy will shift pressure onto hospitals.

Emergency departments are “the most expensive setting for health care delivery,” according to the group.

“Hospitals will not turn away patients requiring urgent care,” the CMA stated. “The costs of delivering health care to these marginalized groups will be absorbed by already strained hospital budgets.”

The changes have also attracted criticism from groups including New Brunswick’s Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre.

The federal government first announced that it would “introduce a modest co-payment model” to the program in November 2025 as part of a budget that featured $60 billion in cuts over five years, coupled with massive increases in military spending.

Spending on the IFHP grew from $211 million in 2020-21 to $896 million in 2024-25 due to significant increases in the number of beneficiaries and cost per person, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

In particular, the cost of coverage for asylum seekers whose claims were ultimately rejected by Canadian immigration authorities has attracted scrutiny, fueling rhetoric about “bogus asylum claimants” from the federal Conservative Party, which has pushed for even deeper cuts.

However, migrant rights advocates have noted that 63 per cent of refugee claims finalized last year were accepted. And nearly one-third of appeals are granted, indicating that initial rejections are often mistaken.

A xenophobic backlash against migrants, immigrants and refugees has gained traction during the cost-of-living crisis, with some Canadians openly calling for a U.S.-style mass deportation campaign.

Younus, the settlement manager, called those tendencies “very concerning.” He said it’s rooted in misunderstanding about the benefits that refugees bring to Canada.

“They are working, they have businesses, they contribute to the community,” he said. “So it is not a waste when you are putting some money into the health of these people, because they will pay back all this to the community.”

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.