The launch of the Canadian Disability Benefit (CDB) on May 16 marks the beginning of a new era for working-age Canadians with disabilities. A much-needed support for a population more likely to experience poverty than other adults, the CDB is a welcome tool that will help many individuals and families. But the heavy burden of bureaucracy that comes with this benefit means fewer Canadians will actually be helped and many others will be harmed as doctors and other health workers are once again saddled with more paperwork and less time for patient care.

However, there is still time for government to address this challenge before Canadians start lining up to get their forms completed. 

Doctors are well aware of the intersection between poverty and health, particularly for the 1.6 million Canadians with disabilities who live in poverty. Insufficient financial resources can worsen chronic health conditions, hinder access to necessary care, and trigger avoidable emergencies. These challenges create a heavy burden for Canadians, and add strain to our already struggling health systems. 

The CDB provides income support of up to $200 per month to low- and modest-income working-age persons with disabilities. However, the benefit’s onerous application process presents a challenge for patients, especially those who may be among the 6.5 million Canadians without a primary care provider. 

To be eligible for the CDB, applicants must first be approved for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), which requires a physician or other health practitioner to perform an assessment and spend about 45 minutes filling this form. In 2023, 280,070 DTC applications were submitted to the government. Doctors could have seen more than 600,000 patients in the time it took to fill out all those forms. This is deeply troubling. At a time when provincial governments are making strides to reduce paperwork, this is a significant step backward. 

Due to the launch of the CDB program, it’s estimated that 110,000 new DTC applications will be made in 2025–26 which will mean doctors or other health providers across the country will spend as much as 82,500 hours over the next year filling out these applications. In that same amount of time, they could see 247,500 patients. 

At a time when patients struggle to access timely care and physicians lose 18.5 million hours each year to administrative tasks, enough time for more than 55 million patient visits, dumping more paperwork onto doctors’ desks is simply unfathomable. It also flies in the face of the good work done by jurisdictions like Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec to reduce the administrative burden that physicians face, including abandoning or reducing the requirement for sick notes. 

Physicians are deeply supportive of Canadians having access to the supports that can help enable them to not only survive but to thrive. But the burden of facilitating these benefits must not fall to already overworked health-care workers, nor should they create new barriers to care and support for the very patients this program is designed to assist, along with all Canadians who will see their access to care worsen.

Solutions are available, and with a new Parliament set to open at the end of the month, there’s no time like the present to deliver on campaign promises with known and widely agreed upon solutions.

To begin with, the federal government should streamline forms like the DTC application as the Liberals promised to do in their election platform. Alternative CDB program approval methods, separate from the DTC, should be considered. The government could also streamline the eligibility requirements for the DTC, addressing some of the too-narrow eligibility requirements.

In an era where governments are keen to co-operate and knock down jurisdictional barriers, the feds should work with the provinces and territories to ensure harmonization on eligibility criteria, ideally resulting in a uniform set of requirements and a single form to establish disability status. 

Governments should also provide paid, comprehensive training and support to physicians and other relevant health-care professionals regarding the DTC application and documentation process to minimize misunderstandings and confusion on program eligibility and how to complete the forms efficiently. 

The CDB is a positive benefit for the Canadians who are eligible to receive it. But it must not come at the expense of other patients who will see their access to care worsen as their physicians have less time available for patient care. Let’s avoid this unnecessary burden for both patients and overworked healthcare workers by working together to implement widely agreed upon solutions. 

Dr. Joss Reimer is a public health physician in Winnipeg, and is president of the Canadian Medical Association. 

The Hill Times