Cuts brutal to refugees

One year ago, the Canadian government introduced major cuts to health care for refugees. On Monday, health-care providers and citizens across the country will hold a national day of action to stop the cuts.

Refugees do not come here seeking better health care; they flee their home countries for fear of persecution, torture, starvation and war. In light of these cuts, refugees cannot access even the most basic health care.

Dr. Annalee Coakley, medical director for the Calgary refugee health program, has seen devastating effects. She has witnessed parents with sick children turned away from emergency departments because they can’t pay registration fees. She has seen a mother, struggling to pay for diapers or food, charged several thousand dollars for delivering her baby in hospital.

In Edmonton, we’ve seen refugees owing tens of thousands of dollars to a healthcare system simply because they’ve fallen ill. Refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder are denied mentalhealth care. Refugees with diabetes or even cancer are denied medications and tests that would prove life-saving.

Many think refugees get better health-care coverage than Canadians. This is false. Before the cuts, refugees were provided with basic coverage at best equivalent to that for the lowest-income Canadians. Our entire system disadvantages those who are most vulnerable, whether they’re Canadians in poverty or those coming to Canada to escape atrocities.

The cuts are as economically devastating as they are morally bankrupt. Infectious diseases left untreated are far more devastating to the general population. When refugees are denied basic care, they wait until an illness gets to a critical point and treatment costs are much higher.

When they lack good health, their ability to find meaningful work and participate productively in society is also hindered.