IFHP Misconceptions | Migranthealth

Common Misconceptions About Health Care for Canadian Migrants

Refugees receive better health care than Canadian citizens

FALSE.

The Interim Federal Health Program currently provides supplemental health care benefits, including medications, to Government Assisted Refugees (GARs), privately sponsored refugees, and victims of trafficking in persons. These groups make up a small minority of all refugees in Canada. Other groups receive coverage for medications only if they are needed to prevent or treat a disease that is a risk to public health or safety; some refugee groups receive no health service or medication coverage at all.

Refugees do not receive “better” health care coverage than the average Canadian. The Health Council of Canada estimates that 98 per cent of Canadians have some insurance coverage for prescription medicine. Since medications are no longer covered by the IFHP for most groups, refugees are among the two per cent who have to pay for all medications themselves.

Refugees face many barriers that further compromise their ability to access health care. We have encountered several patients who have been turned away from specialist appointments, despite qualifying for full health care coverage, because of administrative hurdles and misconceptions about the IFHP.

The IFHP cuts are justified based on cost savings for the federal government

FALSE.

Preventative care is inaccessible to many refugees in Canada under the current IFHP policy. This means that many refugees' health concerns will go unchecked until they require expensive emergency treatments. As Rachel Bard, CEO of the Canadian Nurses Association, has stated, “A system based on acute care and emergency treatments cannot work. Preventive approaches are critical to the sustainability of the system and the health of our population.”

Physicians across Canada have reported unfortunate accounts of patients being hospitalized because they were unable to afford basic medications. For instance, a child in Hamilton was hospitalized with a seizure after his family was no longer covered for inexpensive anti-epileptic medications.

By creating a system where certain individuals are excluded from routine health-care, we risk missing early identification of serious diseases. A commonly cited example is tuberculosis. Consider the case of an individual who has a cough for several weeks but no access to basic health services. When the patient finally presents to the emergency department, acutely ill, not only are the treatments and hospital stay expensive, but the public has been exposed to the disease for weeks.