Refugees and Refugee Claimants To Be Denied Healthcare By Harper Government

[Flamenspiel]

I don't know, finally, the government has decided to begin cutting out of control spending.

There is a lot of areas where spending cuts will impact current taxpayers such as government employees that will be without jobs, seniors who will lose OAS, the DOD will have 1.1 billion in cuts, Parks Canada and other areas will be cut that will have an impact on every Canadian.

Certainly, as other have said, this is a very small amount(20m) and this area will have to suffer as well. You have to spread the pain around and it all adds up.

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by Slava

In this case its basically whats happening though?

Explain your reasoning, because basically that is absolutely not happening. Go beyond the newspaper article. The links are in this thread.

I'm not arguing $20M or whatever made up number is making the rounds. I'm arguing that what the docs in the newspapers are saying is demonstrably wrong. Period.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by zuluking

Explain your reasoning, because basically that is absolutely not happening. Go beyond the newspaper article. The links are in this thread.

I'm not arguing $20M or whatever made up number is making the rounds. I'm arguing that what the docs in the newspapers are saying is demonstrably wrong. Period.

Well it is right there in that original CBC article that a piece of this is to combat fraud. I suppose I base a lot of my thoughts on that piece, along with other articles. Everything out there seems to give only two reasons. First, the cost savings and second the fraud combat. I think the cost savings is a red herring. I have a hard time believing the fraud angle to anything more than a small percentage.

So what am I missing? Is the fraud that large of an issue to begin with?

[Azure]

Perhaps its enough of an issue that you deal with it now. How many times do we get a boatload of refugees like we did last year with the Sri Lankans? Perhaps that opened the government's eyes, and now they want to try and stop things like that.

[OffsideSpecialist]

The government appears to be having a second thought about this issue:

The federal government appears to have quietly backtracked on sweeping changes to its refugee health policy, a turnaround applauded by doctors even as it is denied by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

In April, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced reforms to the Interim Federal Health Program, which provides temporary health benefits to refugees until they qualify for provincial and territorial coverage.

Historically, the benefits included basic medical care as well as supplemental benefits such as pharmaceutical, vision and dental care, at a level similar to that provided by the provinces for people on social assistance. It was given to most refugees, whether they came as part of a government resettlement program, were privately sponsored, or asked for asylum on arrival on Canadian soil. It also applied to rejected refugee claimants awaiting deportation. The cost of the program was roughly $84 million a year.

When the changes were announced, a department press release explained that “the reformed program will end the coverage of supplemental health-care benefits,” something Kenney said was motivated by a sense of fairness.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Fe...#ixzz1zXWpXa00

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Azure

Perhaps its enough of an issue that you deal with it now. How many times do we get a boatload of refugees like we did last year with the Sri Lankans? Perhaps that opened the government's eyes, and now they want to try and stop things like that.

In all honesty, the debate is big in the States. As liberal as I am, I don't want that debate down there.

Here, it really isn't a problem. It's no big deal.