veeango said:
Hi,
Please how about a spouse who is hiv positive and has been on treatment for the past 3 years?
That one's a bit harder. It means mandatory liver screening:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/partner/pp/pdf/IMEI_hepatitis.pdf
You're significantly more likely to get denied under "excessive demand" (see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/medic/admiss/excessive.asp)
However, in Companioni v. Canada (M.C.I.) 2009 FC 1315, and later cases, the Federal Court allowed some flexibility in assessing one’s ability to defray the costs of out-patient medication, such as HIV anti retroviral therapy. As such, medical officers have to make an individualized assessment of the medical file, the required out-patient medication, the availability of private insurance and/or the ability to opt-out of publicly-funded drug plans in the province or territory where the applicant intends to reside.
You may need to put together a plan showing that you can defer medication costs through insurance and/or opting out of drug plans.
As an example, I'm in BC. BC has a program called "Fair Pharmacare". It's income based.
Suppose I need $8,000 a year worth of medications. This would exceed the cost threshold. However, if I make enough money that pharmacare won't cover anything, then the demand is no longer there. This would mean I no longer had excessive demand.
My company offers (though I do not take) insurance. This insurance would also cover the medication. I could put a plan together that would involve me switching the cost to my company insurance.
Alternatively, as a US citizen, I could make arrangements to buy the medication there (with a prescription). This would mean that there was no longer a demand on health services.
Any of these could serve to overcome the excessive demand requirements.
