Canada Is Changing Its’ Rules On Immigrants With Illnesses & Disabilities (Medical Transmissibility)
As accepting and tolerant as most Canadians are there are logical reasons for not just throwing open the border and letting everyone in. However, it’s seeming that as the time goes by Trudeau is getting closer to making this his goal.
The government has decided that now is the time to start changing rules in immigration again starting with the Medical Transmissibility Rule. This specific point basically says that the people coming into this country need to be of sound health so as to not cause an overload to the healthcare and social work systems. This is really no different than the income threshold that has been put into place which was $21,204 in 2020. These are simply requirements that need to be met in order to care for Canada’s best interests.
Even if you stand with this plan to change the rule and allow the sick those with disabilities into the country, it's’ not hard to see the logical side. The more sick or disabled people we have in this country the more our systems become overwhelmed. This means increasing staff that the government would then have to fork over additional cash for. This would increase the cost of programs overall especially, as previously mentioned, the healthcare and social work systems. The more these systems are overloaded the more the taxpayers have to give to the government.
The Canadian Gazette is very open with the information surrounding the current rule and the harms that could incur should this rule be changed.
“Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (hereinafter the Act), foreign nationals seeking to come to Canada on a temporary or permanent basis may be found inadmissible if they have a health condition that “might reasonably be expected to cause excessive demand on health or social services.” The aim is to reduce impacts associated with migration on health and social services systems in Canada. However, the related provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (hereinafter the Regulations) create a barrier to immigration for many individuals with health conditions that are in fact manageable, including persons with disabilities.
The excessive demand cost threshold, currently set in the Regulations as the average cost of health and social services per person in Canada, screens out too many people who, despite their health condition, would be able to make an economic and social contribution to Canada. In addition, excessive demand cases can be complex and difficult to assess, especially when they involve costs for special education services, which constitute social services under the Regulations. Finally, the regulatory provisions requiring both migration and medical officers to review all information, including non-medical information, create inefficiencies and pose risks to the overall program integrity.”
The Canada Gazette goes on to inform the public of the potential cost. “After examining the healthcare costs for these 62 people, it was found that admission of these individuals would incur healthcare costs to Canada of $4.2 million over five years (on average, $840,000 per year). Note that this assessment does not account for some applicants who were found to pose an excessive demand under the new definition but may be approved at a later date based on an acceptable mitigation plan (these decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and at migration officers’ discretion) or on compassionate and humanitarian grounds. Moreover, it does not account for the costs of special education services, as reliable data on special education services costs is not readily available.”
I think this information would be better received if the people in Canada were financially sound and were not staring down generations of our families paying off Trudeau's debt.
