Canada spent more than $722 million providing extensive health care to tens of thousands of asylum seekers in the last fiscal year, including a considerable portion on 'failed refugee claimants' who are either languishing in the system or avoiding removal orders, according to a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Interim Federal Health Program costs climbing
The review of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) also found that its costs continue to climb because of 'backlogs' in Canada's asylum system that keep claimants waiting, in some cases for up to three years. The IFHP was created to provide limited and temporary health-care coverage to foreign nationals deemed vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Conservative critics weigh in
Conservative health critic Dan Mazier and immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said the report shows that the Liberals' temporary program 'has turned into a multi-year, taxpayer-funded entitlement where tens of thousands of bogus asylum claimants are provided health benefits that Canadians are not eligible for.'
'The Liberals must explain to Canadians why asylum seekers who have had their refugee claims rejected, are facing enforceable removal orders, and in some cases fail to appear for removal, continue to receive deluxe, taxpayer-funded health benefits while they avoid leaving Canada,' they said in a statement.
Total spending and breakdown
The total spending across all health-care categories and beneficiary groups for 2024-25 was closer to $822 million when resettled refugees are accounted for. Unlike those seeking asylum, resettled refugees 'are selected and assessed abroad, with admission targets set in the Government's Immigration Levels Plan, resulting in relatively predictable intake and processing timelines.'
The PBO noted that whereas asylum seekers claimed an average of $724 per beneficiary per year on basic care — doctor visits, hospital care, ambulances, labs, diagnostic testing and immigration medical examinations — resettled refugees averaged $97. They are also typically off IFHP within three months and no longer than a year.
Supplementary benefits surge
Per-person spending on basic care has increased consistently, PBO found, but spending on supplementary health products and services — urgent dental treatment, prescription drug coverage, vision care, counselling services, assistive devices and others — has grown at a much faster rate.
In 2019-20, Canada spent $94 million on supplementary benefits across all groups. By 2023-24, expenses nearly tripled to $285 million and they reached $457 million in 2024-25.
Two categories in particular accounted for 80 per cent of the spending: prescription drugs and urgent dental care. The latter represents 56 per cent of program expenses.
According to PBO, the number of dental claims exploded by 43 per cent between 2019 and 2025 (240,000 to 1.4 million). Combined with a higher average cost per claim, it drove dental costs from $30 million to $257 million over that time.
PBO also found that spending on counselling services increased from less than one per cent of total supplementary spending in 2016 to 11 per cent in 2025. In 2024-25, the bill came in at $38.7 million.
'These are benefits that Canadians who have paid into the system their entire lives can't access,' Mazier said on X.
