Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has quietly published a notice confirming that beneficiaries of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) will begin paying modest out-of-pocket costs for many non-core services as of 1 May 2026.
The IFHP provides temporary health coverage to refugee claimants, resettled refugees, protected persons and a handful of other vulnerable groups until they become eligible for provincial or territorial medicare. Under the new rules, every eligible prescription will carry a flat CA $4 charge, while dental, vision, mental-health counselling, physiotherapy, assistive devices and other “supplemental” benefits will be subject to a 30 % co-payment at the point of service. Doctor visits, hospital care and other essential medical services remain fully covered.
Ottawa argues that shifting a small share of supplemental costs onto users will curb runaway demand that has pushed the program’s budget above CA $200 million a year, even as the number of refugee arrivals is expected to climb in the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan. The government first signalled the move in Budget 2025; the final details released yesterday spell out how providers must verify coverage, collect the fee and invoice Medavie Blue Cross for the remainder.
![Canada to Introduce Co-Payments for Refugees’ Interim Federal Health Program on 1 May 2026]()
Organizations that move talent across borders may also want to streamline their immigration paperwork at the same time. VisaHQ’s Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) offers an end-to-end online service for visas, travel documents and status extensions, reducing administrative headaches for HR teams while newcomers focus on navigating the IFHP changes.
For employers and relocation managers, the change adds a new expense line for refugee employees (or their family members) who are still awaiting provincial health coverage. HR teams are advised to update onboarding checklists, remind newcomers to ask about co-payments before care is provided, and consider topping-up private benefits to cover the new 30 % share for dental and vision needs. Service providers are being instructed to display fee notices prominently and issue receipts so that clients—many of whom have limited financial means—can track expenditures or seek reimbursement from settlement agencies.
In practice, observers expect pharmacies to feel the impact first: long-term medication users could pay CA $20-$40 a month in new fees. Advocacy groups have already warned that any cost barrier risks delaying treatment for chronic conditions. IRCC counters that the CA $4 fee is in line with provincial drug-plan co-pays and that basic care remains free. Stakeholders have until the end of April to submit implementation questions to IRCC’s IFHP mailbox, but officials say the May launch date is firm.
The IFHP provides temporary health coverage to refugee claimants, resettled refugees, protected persons and a handful of other vulnerable groups until they become eligible for provincial or territorial medicare. Under the new rules, every eligible prescription will carry a flat CA $4 charge, while dental, vision, mental-health counselling, physiotherapy, assistive devices and other “supplemental” benefits will be subject to a 30 % co-payment at the point of service. Doctor visits, hospital care and other essential medical services remain fully covered.
Ottawa argues that shifting a small share of supplemental costs onto users will curb runaway demand that has pushed the program’s budget above CA $200 million a year, even as the number of refugee arrivals is expected to climb in the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan. The government first signalled the move in Budget 2025; the final details released yesterday spell out how providers must verify coverage, collect the fee and invoice Medavie Blue Cross for the remainder.
Organizations that move talent across borders may also want to streamline their immigration paperwork at the same time. VisaHQ’s Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) offers an end-to-end online service for visas, travel documents and status extensions, reducing administrative headaches for HR teams while newcomers focus on navigating the IFHP changes.
For employers and relocation managers, the change adds a new expense line for refugee employees (or their family members) who are still awaiting provincial health coverage. HR teams are advised to update onboarding checklists, remind newcomers to ask about co-payments before care is provided, and consider topping-up private benefits to cover the new 30 % share for dental and vision needs. Service providers are being instructed to display fee notices prominently and issue receipts so that clients—many of whom have limited financial means—can track expenditures or seek reimbursement from settlement agencies.
In practice, observers expect pharmacies to feel the impact first: long-term medication users could pay CA $20-$40 a month in new fees. Advocacy groups have already warned that any cost barrier risks delaying treatment for chronic conditions. IRCC counters that the CA $4 fee is in line with provincial drug-plan co-pays and that basic care remains free. Stakeholders have until the end of April to submit implementation questions to IRCC’s IFHP mailbox, but officials say the May launch date is firm.
