Medical inadmissibility: Canada makes higher cost threshold permanent

Canada has made the Temporary Public Policy regarding Excessive Demand on Health and Social Services permanent. The temporary policy which came to effect on June 1, 2018. The Policy makes certain immigration applicants inadmissible on medical grounds, if they or their family member has a health condition which may cause excessive demand on Canada’s healthcare and social services. The applicants will be declared inadmissible, if the anticipated costs are likely to exceed three times the average Canadian per-capita health or social services costs over a five year period. The policy, which is now permanent, has modified the definition of social services to remove the reference to special education, social and vocational rehabilitations services and personal support services.This year, the annual cost threshold of an immigration applicant is $24058 per year or $120285 over five years. Last year, the cost threshold was $21798 or three times the average cost of those services for a Canadian, which is $7266. The amount has now been raised by almost 10.4 percent in order to reflect three times of the current average for Canadian which is $8019.

This Annual Cost Threshold acts as a parameter for Canada to find out whether a prospective immigrant would put a burden on Canadian taxpayers. This threshold is updated every year based on per capita health spending by the federal, provincial and territorial governments. Higher cost threshold means Canada will be welcoming more people with disabilities and bearing the cost which may be needed for their treatment.

By increasing the cost threshold, Canada has allowed 85 percent of the applicants who would have previously been refused under the old definition of excessive demand, to have an opportunity to migrate to Canada.

The costs which are considered to calculate the said demand include:

• Home care by a nurse, physiotherapist, respiratory therapist or another care provider
• Palliative care
• Psychological counseling
• Medical aids, appliances and prostheses
• Residential facilities, including long-term care and substance abuse services
• Day facilities providing constant supervision, for example respite care
• Physician services
• Nursing services
• Laboratory and diagnostic services
• Pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical services
• Hospital services
• Chemotherapy and radiotherapy
• Dialysis
• Supplies related to these services
• Psychiatric services

Do you wish to know more about the process of migrating to Canada? Talk to the Canada immigration experts of CnaApprove. Contact us now.