The Carney government has partially reversed cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) after months of pressure from refugees, health-care workers, and community organizations. While the change will help some families, it leaves intact a cruel policy that forces some of Canada’s poorest and most vulnerable residents to pay for essential care they cannot afford.
The IFHP provides temporary coverage to resettled refugees and asylum seekers waiting to qualify for provincial or territorial health insurance. Since May 2026, most beneficiaries have been required to pay 30 per cent of the cost of previously covered health services, medical supplies and assistive devices, plus four dollars for each prescription or refill.
For an asylum seeker without a work permit, a low-wage migrant worker or an undocumented person, these charges can mean choosing between medicine, food and rent. This is not “cost-sharing.” It is a tax on poverty, illness and precarious immigration status.
Resistance forced this retreat
On July 31, several essential services and supplies—including feeding equipment, respiratory devices, implantable hearing aids and hospital rehabilitation—were moved into a coverage category without co-payments.
The change will help families such as that of “Olivia,” an asylum-seeking mother whose daughter has cerebral palsy. After the cuts, she had to find more than $500 every month for medical expenses, forcing her to consider sacrificing food and basic necessities to keep her daughter alive.
The government calls the reversal a “routine update.” But it came only after months of rallies, meetings with MPs, media coverage and organizing by affected families, doctors and community groups. This relief was not a government gift; it was won through collective resistance.
Austerity still comes before human lives
Ottawa says the revision will preserve almost all of its projected annual savings of approximately $200 million. Many essential services and medical supplies therefore remain subject to the 30 per cent charge.
The government also acted after recognizing that denying people home oxygen, feeding tubes or other supplies could keep them in hospitals longer and cost the health system more. Its retreat was shaped less by a commitment to human rights than by financial calculations.
Undocumented workers remain especially exposed. Many are excluded from public insurance altogether, despite working, paying taxes and sustaining essential industries. When they become sick or are injured at work, the cost of treatment—and fear that seeking care could expose their immigration status—often prevents them from getting help.
Refugees are not responsible for the health-care crisis
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre claims that refugees receive better care than Canadian citizens. This divisive argument turns a crisis caused by underfunding and privatization into a conflict between people who are all struggling.
Refugees did not create doctor shortages, hospital overcrowding or long waiting lists. Governments created these conditions by cutting public services while allowing private companies to profit from illness.
Taking care away from refugees will not improve care for anyone else. The answer is universal, well-funded public health care—not deeper exclusion.
The Immigrant Workers Centre welcomes every measure that reduces suffering, but this partial reversal is not enough. Ottawa must eliminate all co-payments introduced in May and restore full IFHP coverage.
Free and comprehensive health care must be guaranteed to everyone, including refugees, asylum seekers, temporary migrant workers, international students and undocumented people.
Illness does not ask for a passport or work permit. Neither should the health-care system.
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