74,000 Failed Refugee Claimaints Still Receive Health Benefits in Canada: Budget Watchdog

Medical devices are seen in an examination room at a health clinic in Calgary on July 14, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

About 74,000 people whose refugee claims were rejected are still eligible for health care coverage in Canada, and a third of them are in the process of being removed from the country, according to a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report.

The May 26 report on Canada’s Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) also found that program spending totalled $822 million in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, with spending for that year averaging $1,500 per beneficiary.

“Since 2019-20, both claims and total spending have increased, with spending, particularly for basic and supplementary benefits, outpacing growth in claims,” the report said.

The IFHP was created in 1957 to provide limited and temporary health-care coverage to foreign nationals deemed vulnerable and disadvantaged. The program’s costs have surged in recent years, leading the Conservative Party to call for reforms and cuts to asylum seeker benefits.

Canada spent $94 million on IFHP supplementary benefits like medication, vision care, dental care, and counselling across all groups in 2019-2020. Spending rose to $285 million by 2023-24 and $457 million in 2024-25.

The report said 74,000 failed refugee claimants were in the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) list for removal, including 22,682 removals that were “temporarily suspended due to factors such as litigation stays.”

A total of 23,429 failed claimants were in the process of being removed from Canada by border officials. Another 27,797 were classified as “wanted” because they were subject to removal orders but failed to appear for proceedings, prompting the CBSA to launch searches for them.

In the previous fiscal year, IFHP spending was 80 percent higher for asylum claimants than for refugees resettled in Canada. Each asylum seeker claimed around $724 per year, while resettled refugees claimed an average of $97.

The report said asylum beneficiaries typically remain eligible for IFHP for longer while their claims and appeals are processed. Resettled refugees receive medical services prior to their departure from their country of origin, “reducing some healthcare needs upon arrival in Canada.”

Conservative MPs Michelle Rempel Garner, the party’s immigration critic, and Dan Mazier, the shadow health minister, said in a May 26 statement that the IFHP had become a “multi-year taxpayer-funded entitlement” that provides failed asylum claimants with health benefits unavailable to many Canadians.

The Tory MPs said in the statement that the federal government needed to “explain to Canadians” why asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected and in some cases are evading removal “continue to receive deluxe, taxpayer-funded health benefits.”

The Tories introduced a motion in the House of Commons earlier this year to review and cut health benefits for asylum claimants. That motion failed on Feb. 25, with the Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, NDP, and Green Party voting against it.

Immigration Minister Lena Diab commented on the PBO report in Parliament on May 26 in response to questioning from Rempel Garner. Diab said the government had reduced the number of temporary workers and asylum seekers in Canada, saving taxpayers money. She also said the PBO report showed that there would be “substantial savings” to the IFHP program in the next three years.

The PBO report said with IFHP beneficiaries being required to contribute to a fixed-fee per prescription and a percentage of the cost of supplemental services starting May 1, savings could reach $217 million annually by 2029-30.

The PBO also said that the Liberals’ Bill C-12 could reduce the number of claimants eligible for IFHP coverage and shorten the duration of benefits if it passes.