Guest blog by Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio (Professor at the University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine) and Petra Schulz, (Disability rights advocate).
TLDR
- The Government of Alberta is cutting its budget at the expense of its most vulnerable residents.
- Starting July 2026, all of the 77,000 AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) recipients will be moved to the new Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP), which is employment focused.
- To get back on AISH, those unable to work will be required to reapply with a full medical form completed by a physician—a significant administrative burden for overworked physicians.
- ADAP provides the same health benefits as AISH, but provides $200 less income per month ($1,740 per month vs. the 2025 AISH rate of $1,940).
- Employment earning exemptions will drop from $1000 per month to $350 under both programs.
- Effective 2025, Alberta is the only province to claw back the $200 per month from the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB).
How you can help:
- Give feedback by completing the government survey before September 12.
- Contact your MLA.
- Share this information with your friends and family.
Why it matters:
- Red Tape in the form of administrative burden and financial barriers created by the province on the backs and at the expense of low income Albertans and their healthcare providers.
- Increased wait times for non-AISH visits in primary care clinics serving low income Albertans.
- Elimination of appeals process for medical adjudication.
- Increased stress, uncertainty, and deteriorating health for people with chronic conditions.
- Fewer people on AISH, pushing many further into poverty and homelessness.
Full story:
Harmful health and social government policy decisions have become the norm in Alberta. A recent decision that will move most of the 77,000 people currently receiving AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped) onto the new Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) has the disability community reeling.
The UCP government has already faced backlash over clawing back the $200 Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) for people on AISH. While the payment will not exactly “lift people out of poverty” as the federal government had promised, it makes a difference in keeping a roof over someone’s head and food on the table. Alberta is the only province or territory clawing back this benefit.
To make matters worse, AISH recipients are being forced to apply for the CDB benefit. Starting in October, anyone who doesn’t apply will see their monthly AISH payment reduced by $200. People have already received calls from government call centres asking about their application status and approval amounts. The application process for CDB is complex and involves first getting a Disability Tax Credit, and resultingly, many people with disabilities who have been rejected when first trying or have difficulty with the process are paying out of pocket for consultants to help with the application, as reported by the CBC. Physicians and other healthcare providers are working overtime for the countless hours needed to complete the medical forms, often going unpaid. They are also dealing with stressed and worried patients, who are in crisis over this potential loss of income.
With all this underway, people with disabilities, their families and advocacy organizations, including Friends of Medicare, were shocked to learn details about the planned rollout of ADAP. The program was initially touted by the government as a way for more people on ASIH to be gainfully employed without fearing the loss of personal and medical benefits, described as providing “financial, health and personal support to Albertans with permanent and short-term disabilities who are able to work.“ However, the reality promises to look very different: not only will all current 77,000 AISH recipients be moved to ADAP, their benefit income will also be reduced.
Only those with the most serious conditions, such as terminal illness, will remain on AISH. Everyone for whom ADAP is unsuitable or insufficient must reapply with a full medical form completed by their own healthcare provider, or a physician from a list provided by the government. All current AISH recipients have already gone through this process with their doctors, yet it must now be repeated. It is also unclear how the government intends to create its list of approved physicians, who will likely not have a history with the patient, nor sufficient knowledge of the patient’s experiences to accurately assess their needs.
Healthcare providers are gravely concerned about the impact of these policy shifts on their clinical practice. The government is unilaterally manufacturing unnecessary bureaucratic work over unrealistic timelines. The imposition of redundant paperwork disproportionately affects professionals who have chosen to work in underserved communities, and who are commonly in lower-paid medical disciplines. The work is either unpaid, or places a health-threatening financial burden on patients. This major additional workload will increase ALL patients' wait times for primary care services.
This comes in the middle of a primary care crisis, when primary care providers are leaving the province because their practices are no longer financially viable. Healthcare professionals are also experiencing alarmingly frequent burnout among their ranks, with national bodies calling for a marked REDUCTION of healthcare providers’ administrative burdens. Healthcare providers are witnessing fearful AISH recipients come into their office worried not only about how to pay for all of the out-of-pocket costs they need to maintain their day-to-day health (nutrition, fitness, etc.), but also whether they are one paycheque away from being evicted next month. These are scarcely the conditions in which healthcare providers and patients can work together on blood pressure management, smoking cessation, diabetic foot care, mental health counseling, or other medical care designed to keep people healthy and out of the hospital.
While ADAP was initially introduced as a tool to provide more income and financial stability, the opposite is true for all but a small minority of recipients who are able to work close to full-time, as the disability advocate Zachary Weeks points out in this video. He explains that benefits drop from a monthly maximum of $1,940 on AISH to $1,740 on ADAP, combined with earning exemptions lowered from $1000 currently on AISH, to just $350 per month on either program.
A more in-depth analysis by Gillian Petit, a University of Calgary economist, provides a bleak picture of the financial impact of ADAP. She explains that “in 2023/24, only 16.4% of AISH clients had employment income. This suggests that 83.6% had zero employment income thus 83.6% of AISH clients will be worse off financially.” Poverty-related health costs will rise as the result of these changes, which would far exceed any potential cost savings.
Notably, the current AISH eligibility criteria states that the person must have “a medical condition that substantially limits your ability to earn a living” and that the “medical condition is likely to remain permanent.” The government has failed to explain how the situation of people with disabilities has suddenly changed to allow most of those on AISH to work. While ADAP includes job readiness support such as resume help and mock interviews, Canada does not have human rights legislation that compels employers to provide the needed accommodations that would allow people with disabilities to thrive in the workplace. All this while Alberta sees some of the highest youth and general unemployment rates. Who are employers more likely to hire?
The maximum AISH income is already far below minimum wage, let alone a living wage in Alberta communities. Under the right conditions, most people with disabilities would want to work and earn more, but a government employment program should not respond by forcibly taking benefits away. ADAP should be an option and a choice. It should not further penalize and impoverish people who already live on the margins of society with barely enough resources to survive.