Between Jan. 17 and Dec. 31, 2011, 8,819 Mexicans used nearly $7 million worth of health care services under the Interim Federal Health Program. The cost for 6,749 Hungarians was more than $4.4 million, the cost for 4,583 Colombians was more than $2.6 million. Meanwhile, 3,790 Americans received more than $1.4 million worth of free health care. Jamaican claim-ants round out the top five with 809 health care users receiving more than $808,000 worth of health services.
Given the high rejection, abandonment and withdrawal rates for refugee claimants from some of these countries, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney argued this is proof the government was right to crack down on the breadth of health services that are available to refugee claimants.
According to Immigration and Refugee Board figures, last year 83 per cent of Mexican refugee applications were rejected, abandoned or withdrawn. Some 91 per cent of Hungarian claims, 98 per cent of American claims, 63 per cent of Colombian claims and 62 per cent of Jamaican claims were rejected, abandoned or withdrawn.
"That does underscore the reasons why we've reformed the Interim Federal Health Program. There's no doubt that it has been a draw factor for many false asylum claims," he said. "I think it demonstrates why we've made what are, I think, very fair and balanced changes."
The government announced in April that it was cutting a variety of health care ser-vices, including pharmaceutical, vision and dental care, provided to refugee claim-ants under the Interim Federal Health Program. The cuts, which took effect June 30, were meant to ensure potential fraudsters were not receiving "gold-plated" extras that average Canadians don't get, according to Kenney.
A number of physicians across the country who have taken to the streets to protest the cuts, which they say go a lot deeper than the government is letting on and create additional barriers for an already vulnerable population.
Kenney said Tuesday that he's heard stories from Canada Border Service agents who've interviewed Hungarians about why they withdrew their applications. Some were quite honest, he said, noting they came to get free dental care for their kids and planned to leave after they got it.
Many Colombian claimants,
he added, apply for refugee status in Canada, not after arriving from Bogota but after spending a decade in the United States with no health coverage.
"It's hard for us to quantify exactly how many false asylum claimants have come because of pull factors like the Interim Federal Health Program, but we shouldn't be naive. When you're offering people free gold-plated medical services they can't get in their country of origin, it's just human nature," Kenney said.
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Tobi Cohen
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