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Canadians now spending $1 billion per year to cover health-care costs of refugee claimants

The ballooning program even pays the health care premiums of foreigners who have had their refugee claims rejected

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Paying the health-care premiums of refugee claimants will cost Canadians a record $1 billion this year, with some of the beneficiaries continuing to receive free health care despite their claims having already been rejected.

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That’s according to a new analysis by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, and it’s just one of several ballooning costs wrought by the unprecedented number of foreign nationals currently living in Canada by virtue of a claim of refugee status.

Canadians now spending $1 billion per year to cover health-care costs of refugee claimants Back to video

The Interim Federal Health Program, which offers premium health benefits to asylum claimants, is soon set to hit $1 billion in annual costs for the first time, according to an analysis last Thursday by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

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This is a five-fold increase from just six years ago, when the program was costing $211 million per year. The analysis also projects that costs are expected to surge for the foreseeable future, with the annual budget likely to hit $1.5 billion as early as 2029.

All told, between now and 2030, Canadians are on track to spend $6.2 billion on health care for refugees or refugee claimants.

“The rising volume of asylum claims, along with the longer duration of eligibility caused by extended determination times, has been an important growth driver in recent years,” reads the PBO report.

The report was commissioned following a Conservative-led request made at the House of Commons standing committee on health. In a Thursday statement, the Conservative party noted that the Interim Federal Health Program can be accessed even by asylum claimants who have had their case rejected.

It also offers a higher level of care than that enjoyed by the average Canadian citizen. In addition to hospital care and surgical care, the IFHP also covers dental care, vision care, pharmacare and other services not typically covered by public health plans.

“Rejected asylum claimants are now receiving better health care than many Canadians who have paid into a system their entire life,” read a joint statement by Dan Mazier and Michelle Rempel Garner, the shadow ministers of health and immigration, respectively.

It added, “at a time when six million Canadians cannot find a family doctor and are waiting for care, it’s unacceptable that bogus asylum seekers are receiving better health benefits than Canadians.”

🚨 Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer now projects that the Interim Federal Health Program will cost nearly $1 BILLION next year, rising to more than $1.5 BILLION annually by 2030.These are benefits being provided through a federal program to individuals whose asylum claims… pic.twitter.com/YYsr9bz2lx— Larry Brock (@LarryBrockMP) February 13, 2026

🚨 Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer now projects that the Interim Federal Health Program will cost nearly $1 BILLION next year, rising to more than $1.5 BILLION annually by 2030.These are benefits being provided through a federal program to individuals whose asylum claims… pic.twitter.com/YYsr9bz2lx

As of the most recent count by the Immigration and Refugee Board, there were 299,614 foreign nationals in Canada waiting for their refugee claim to be reviewed. This is larger than the entire population of either Saskatoon, Sask., or Windsor, Ont.

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It’s also a more than an 1,800 per cent increase from the 16,058 who were in the country when the Trudeau Liberals first took power in 2015.

The figure includes tens of thousands of illegal border-crossers who entered the United States on tourist visas before entering Canada illegally to make a refugee claim. It also includes a recent spike in foreign nationals who entered Canada on student visas, but claimed refugee status as soon as their visas expired.

As asylum claimants are often allowed immediate access to government benefits, the spike has incurred several uncontrolled surges in federal spending.

Another example is the Interim Housing Assistance Program, which pays the shelter costs and even food bills of asylum claimants.

In 2024, Conservative MP Lianne Rood published disclosures from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada finding that some asylum claimants were receiving room and board benefits in excess of $200 per day.

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While the benefits were not universal among asylum claimants, those accepted to receive food and shelter supports were getting the equivalent of $84 per day for meals and $140 per day for hotel rooms.

And this was in addition to a whole latticework of additional federal payouts to asylum seekers, including one that gave $3,000 cash payouts to Gazans entering Canada.

In the budget estimates for 2024/2025, the federal government was already recording more than a billion dollars in annual spending on asylum claimants, of which only $584.3 million was earmarked for the Interim Federal Health Program.

Resettled Gazans received $41 million in various benefits, the Interim Housing Assistance Program was given $400 million, and $66.4 million was described as funding “temporary accommodations to asylum seekers.”

In 2016, about 130,000 people were accessing some form of benefit from the Interim Federal Health Program. As of the new report by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, this has more than quadrupled to 611,000.

As to why the number of beneficiaries is much higher than the total number of asylum claimants, it’s partially because, as the Conservatives stated in their response, the IFHP also covers asylum claimants who have had their claims rejected.

The current 24-month backlog at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada means that even an ineligible asylum claimant can expect at least two years of free Canadian health benefits before their claim is rejected.

And even then, benefits can still be drawn until the claimant has exhausted all avenues of appeal. The Interim Federal Health Program only begins cutting off beneficiaries after they fail to qualify for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment, typically the last step before the claimant becomes subject to a removal order.

The Carney government recently announced reforms to the Interim Federal Health Program intended to curb its ballooning cost — although, the coverage still remains far more generous than that enjoyed by the average Canadian.

Starting May 1, asylum claimants will have to pay $4 per prescription instead of nothing, and if they access “supplemental health products” such as counselling or dental care, they will have to cover 30 per cent of the bill themselves.

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