A Comprehensive Analysis of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP)

This report provides an overview of the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) in Canada, detailing its purpose, eligibility criteria, and the healthcare services it provides to individuals who are not yet eligible for provincial or territorial health insurance. It discusses the program's introduction in response to the Syrian refugee crisis and the subsequent violation of healthcare policies by the UN Human Rights committee. The report highlights the impact of policy changes made in 2012, which restricted healthcare coverage, and the subsequent restoration of pre-2012 policies in 2016. It emphasizes the importance of clear policies to avoid misunderstandings and ensure equitable distribution of healthcare services. Finally, it examines the importance of understanding the IFHP for future Health Administrative Assistants, highlighting the need for better healthcare facilities and insurance for migrant populations. The report references several academic sources to support its findings.

Interim Federal Health
Program (IFHP)

Introduction:
It provides health-care benefits for people who are yet to become
eligible for the provincial or the territorial health insurance.
People who are eligible for the program are
◦ protected refugees
◦ People who do not have legal status permitted by the government
The service is indirectly provided to the people by the healthcare
facilities.
Medavie Blue Cross covers all the expenses of the health care cost
(Bakewell et al., 2018).

Why was the program introduced?
Canada took positive steps towards addressing the crisis faced by over
25,000 Syrian refugees and migrated them to Canada.
The migrants were victims of violence, trauma and war.
They were all suffering from physical and mental difficulties.
In order to asses the health condition, the government of Canada proposed
the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) (Hansen & Huston, 2016).

Violation of the health-care policy:
The UN Human Rights committee stated that Canada violated the Interim
Federal Health Program (IFHP)
It was related to health care rights of irregular migrant by rejecting the
essential health-care facilities.
The health care services were not providing appropriate health care
faculties to the migrants despite of being eligible for the provided health
care facilities and cost of the treatment (Antonipillai et al., 2017).

Who was affected by the
violation?
The migrant who visited the country and settled there as they got
employed there and were under documentation and were not yet the citizen
of the country.
The migrants were provided with emergency treatment but were not
delivered with further procedure of the treatment as the migrants did not
consisted health card.
The migrants were also not provided by the health care faculties as they
were not able to pay the cost of the treatment (Harris & Zuberi, 2015).

Changes made to the health care program
in the year 2012:
The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration made changes to the law.
The change was made by cutting various health care facilities and cost of
the treatment provided.
This included medication, vision dental and medical devices coverage
(Ennset al., 2017).

Who were affected by the change?
The change divided the beneficiaries in to different categories.
Eliminated few migrants from health care insurance while reducing the
insurance for some migrant group.
The health care providers were also affected.
Health care started charging migrant patients for treatment, while few
refused to provide treatment (Villegas & Blower, 2019).

Further changes in the year 2016:
In the year of 2016, the Liberal federal government address the program
and permits the pre-2012 policies.
It again started the funding, removed the categories made for the migrants
and also increased few more faculties (Da Silva, 2016).
It provided the migrant with better health care faculties.
The health care professionals were now bound to provide them care and
with proper insurance (Berger et al., 2018).

Importance of having a clear policy:
It is important to have a clear and well explained policy or program in
order to avoid any kind of misunderstanding.
Misunderstood policy and program may lead to error and difficulty in
distributing the facility related to the program.
The Interim Federal Health Program needs to be well explained and clear
in order to guide the health care providers to better understand the
distribution of the faculties in the migrant population.
The further changes needs to be explained to the health care professionals
to avoid violation of these policies (Ruiz-Casares et al., 2016).

Affect of the knowledge as a future Health
Administrative Assistant:
The knowledge regarding Interim Federal Health Program will help in
understanding the program and its distribution over the migrant
population.
It will generate better knowledge regarding the condition of the health care
facilities provided to these migrants.
Also will provide better understanding of the facilities that needs to be
developed in order to provide a better health condition and insurance to
these populations (Rink et al., 2017).

References:
Antonipillai, V., Baumann, A., Hunter, A., Wahoush, O., & O’Shea, T. (2017). Impacts of the
Interim Federal Health Program reforms: A stakeholder analysis of barriers to health
care access and provision for refugees. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 108(4),
435-441.
Bakewell, F., Addleman, S., Dickinson, G., & Thiruganasambandamoorthy, V. (2018). Use
of the emergency department by refugees under the Interim Federal Health Program: A
health records review. PloS one, 13(5), e0197282.
Berger, P., Rashid, M., Caudarella, A., Evans, A., & Holcroft, C. (2018). From the Clinics to
the Streets: The Fight against Refugee Health Cuts in Canada. Under-Served:
Health Determinants of Indigenous, Inner-City, and Migrant Populations in Canada, 364.
Da Silva, M. (2016). Medicare and the Non-Insured Health Benefits and Interim Federal
Health Programs: A Procedural Justice Analysis. McGill JL & Health, 10, 101.
Enns, R., Okeke-Ihejirika, P., Kirova, A., & McMenemy, C. (2017). Refugee healthcare in
Canada: responses to the 2012 changes to the interim federal health program.
International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 3(1), 24-42.

References:
Hansen, L., & Huston, P. (2016). Syrian refugees: Health considerations in the Syrian refugee
resettlement process in Canada. Canada Communicable Disease Report, 42(Suppl 2),
S3.
Harris, H. P., & Zuberi, D. (2015). Harming refugee and Canadian health: the negative
consequences of recent reforms to Canada’s interim Federal Health Program. Journal of
International Migration and Integration, 16(4), 1041-1055.
Rink, N., Muttalib, F., Morantz, G., Chase, L., Cleveland, J., Rousseau, C., & Li, P. (2017). The
gap between coverage and care—what can Canadian paediatricians do about access to
health services for refugee claimant children?. Paediatrics & Child Health, 22(8), 430-
437.
Ruiz-Casares, M., Cleveland, J., Oulhote, Y., Dunkley-Hickin, C., & Rousseau, C. (2016).
Knowledge of healthcare coverage for refugee claimants: Results from a survey of
health service providers in Montreal. PloS one, 11(1), e0146798.
Villegas, P. E., & Blower, J. (2019). " Part of Being Canadian Is Having Access to Healthcare":
Framing the Boundaries of Healthcare Deservingness for Non-Citizens through the