What’s really scary? Not having health coverage when your baby needs it

Update:

Then, the BC MSP office reached out to Sanctuary Health and asked to meet as soon as possible. 

On Tuesday, we met with leadership of BC MSP and Pharmaceutical Services. They agreed that all BC-born babies deserve and are eligible for health coverage under MSP.  The MSP office said they would work with Sanctuary Health to make sure babies who had previously had their applications rejected would get coverage. They also committed to eliminating the whatever registration barriers had been preventing these babies from getting MSP coverage so that no family faces rejection in the future. We need to confirm that the registration barriers have been lifted for future applicants - then we'll know for sure whether this issue has been resolved. However, we are cautiously hopeful that for some BC families, life is about to get a whole lot easier. 


October 27th, 2016

(Vancouver) - Advocates and health care professionals gathered at the Strathcona Midwifery Collective, this morning to share that they are terrified for babies who cannot access BC health coverage due to discrimination against their parents’ immigration status. Among pumpkins bearing messages such as “Health for All” and “MSP for Babies,” they shared messages from the worried parents of these babies.

“For us as parents, it’s indeed extremely frustrating that our baby does not have medical coverage,” said Oscar and Marcela, whose names have been changed to protect their privacy. “We have applied twice and in neither application the Ministry has taken the time to respond whether or not my baby qualifies.”

"If a baby is born in Canada, they are a Canadian citizen and immediately eligible for MSP," Minister of Health Terry Lake told Parliament on May 5th 2016. However, in correspondences with Sanctuary Health, Barbara Walman, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health confirmed that in practice this is not the case. “Although any child born in BC is a Canadian citizen and may be entitled to MSP coverage,” she wrote. “The timing of and requirements for their coverage will depend on the circumstances of their birth.” Over 500 people have sent emails to the Ministry of Health asking them to develop a registration process that aligns with Minister Lake’s words.

“This is a life and death situation; these babies could die if they don’t get health care,” said Ingrid Mendez of Sanctuary Health. “Meanwhile, deportation to face violence in their home country is not a legitimate option. Although mothers have told us, in desperation, that they are willing to put their own lives at risk if their babies could stay safe in Canada.”

“I get really worried and powerless when he is sick, I don’t know how much help I can get without his MSP coverage,” said Camila, who will need to find thousands of dollars to pay for her babies’ urgent surgery. “The immigration part of it [is] also worrying because they might start questioning why I am asking for help when I am not Canadian, only my baby is.”

“We’ve spoken to health care providers in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, and we understand that all these provinces provide healthcare to babies in these situations. It’s time for BC to step up to the plate.” said Tasha Nijjar of Sanctuary Health.

Sanctuary Health is a grassroots community group that deploys a wide range of strategies to advocate for access to services for all regardless of immigration status or documentation. To learn more about the issue visit: http://www.bchealthcoalition.ca/what-you-can-do/make-sure-bc-babies-can-access-health-care

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Media Advisory: What’s really scary? Not having health coverage when your baby needs it

VANCOUVER BC-- As Halloween approaches, advocates and health care professionals will gather to share their grave fears for BC-born babies who cannot access BC health coverage due to discrimination against their parents’ immigration status. Over 500 people have sent emails to the Minister of Health about their concerns.

WHAT: Press Conference and Powerful Visual

WHEN: Thursday, October 27th, 2016 9 AM

WHERE: Strathcona Midwifery Collective at 439 Dunlevy Avenue

AVAILABLE TO SPEAK WITH MEDIA:

Ingrid Mendez, Sanctuary Health
Jennifer Kuhl, BC Health Coalition

About Sanctuary Health

Sanctuary Health is a grassroots community group. We deploy direct action, movement-building, community-engagement, and direct support strategies to advocate for access to services for all regardless of immigration status or documentation. We are committed to building cross-sectoral alliances of mutual support to advance the migrant-justice movement on unceded Coast Salish territories.

About BC Health Coalition

The BC Health Coalition is a network of individuals and organizations with a shared passion for public health care. Our coalition community is comprised of over 600,000 people in B.C. - and growing.

For more information, please visit: http://www.bchealthcoalition.ca/what-you-can-do/make-sure-bc-babies-can-access-health-care

URGENT: Support a Family of 4 (soon 5) to stay in Canada

Please click here to donate to help raise the $9000 required to help a Honduran family of four, soon to be five, apply to stay in Canada after fleeing their homes out of fear for their lives and the safety of their children.

With no other option but to flee, the family, which includes a pregnant mother and two young children, now faces the high cost of staying in Canada legally so they can access basic services, such as education and health care. In order to stay, each member of their family must apply for a Pre-removal Risk Assessment and the right to stay under Humanitarian and Compassionate grounds (H&C)  which will cost more than $9000.

The current situation in Honduras is unsafe for many. The country has the world’s highest homicide rate, and environmental activists, human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, members of the LGBTQ community, the Garifuna, Indigenous people, union leaders, farmers and journalists are being systematically threatened or killed. The Canadian government has been a consistent ally to the current government in Honduras since it took power in a 2009 military coup, downplaying the government’s role in the human rights crisis and passing a Free Trade Agreement in 2014.

According to Human Rights Watch :

“Children experience high levels of violence, largely perpetrated by armed gangs. Many are recruited into these gangs or are frequently under pressure to join them, according to press reports. Fear of violence drives hundreds of other children every year to leave their homes and head north, often unaccompanied, to Mexico and the United States. Some migrants who had been deported back to Honduras told Human Rights Watch they were living in hiding and were afraid to go out in public.”

Due to a life of fear and hiding resulting from precarious immigration status, the family wishes to remain anonymous. Please help this family raise some of the money they need to provide a secure life for their young children and enjoy the basic human rights that everyone deserves.

Any amount helps - thank you very much for your support.

To donate go to: https://www.gofundme.com/2k6q2p3w

For more information on the situation in Honduras see: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/blood-flows-where-canadian-capital-goes-371189471.html

Fraser Health - Access without Fear!

Fraser Health is the Health Authority that serves the region from Boston Bar in the Fraser Canyon all the way down the Fraser River Valley to the Vancouver suburbs of Burnaby and Delta.

Update:
Fraser Health has taken the following positive steps to respond to address some of the problems with their policies:

1. Fraser Health’s CEO has personally looked into the matter.
2. Fraser Health states it has made changes to internal processes, preventing the finance department from sharing information with immigration officials, and committing to update their policies to remove any reference to the Canada Border Services Agency
3. Fraser Health publicly states it has made these changes on social media and through email.

Community members are working with Fraser Health to hold it accountable to its commitments and to ensure that it effectively addresses patient’s needs. A strong coalition of affected communities and advocates agree that there are five important changes that need to be made to Fraser Health's policies and guidelines:

1. Changing all policies so that Fraser Health staff protects patient confidentiality and does not share information with the Canada Border Services Agency.
2. Ensuring that health care, including booked services, are accessible for all, regardless of immigration status.
3. Training all relevant Fraser Health staff on these changes in policy, and accountability and complaint mechanisms.
4. Ensuring that patients are not listed as victims of trafficking without their consent.
5. Establishing urgent and concrete timelines for the implementation of these policies.

A health care worker's priority should be the patient's health. Hospitals are not border checkpoints! We will report back on updates as they become available.


In a 22 month period between January 1, 2014 to October 7, 2015, Fraser Health staff made 558 referrals to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). As revealed in Freedom of Information requests, Fraser Health policy dictates that physicians, nurses and social workers should work with the financial department to arrange for deportations. A health care worker's priority should be the patient's health. Hospitals are not border checkpoints! Health care is a basic human right. Everyone should have dignified access to health care. Patients should be able to receive the care that they need without emotional stress and fear of deportation, debt and death. Patient confidentiality and "do no harm" are fundamental principles that should guide all aspects of our health care system. These principles are violated when Fraser Health shares patient information with the CBSA. Patients should not have to deal with daily questions from their social worker about their immigration status. They should not be waking up from a coma to see CBSA officers at the foot of their bed. Patients should not have to choose to give birth in their bedrooms for fear of accessing the health care system. These are the results of Fraser Health's negligent policies. Fear of accessing services can and has resulted in individuals suffering from preventable disease, injury, and death. In other cases, catchment areas like Vancouver Coastal Health, who do not share information with CBSA, bear the burden of providing care for vulnerable and diverse populations that cannot find comparable services within Fraser Health. Fraser Health also appears to have made arrangements for air ambulances and airline medical escorts to assist with deportations, a process that costs thousands of dollars. On International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, please join us for a vigil, in front of Fraser Health Authority Offices, in honour of patients who have been detained or deported due to Fraser Health's collaboration with CBSA. The vigil will be on March 21st at 5 pm. Details about the event can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/244240372578008/ You can also write tell Fraser Health's] Board of Directors and important Senior Leaders at Fraser Health that these policies are unacceptable, are putting lives at risk, and need to be changed here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/fraser-health-access-without-fear