We’ve all watched the so‑called “health‑care refocus” slide further into privatization. The optics are trash: the Atabay/Turkey kids‑meds fiasco with a giant prepay and a credit we still haven’t seen; the revolving door of glossy private deals; the usual trust us spin. I’m not rehashing every nickname‑friendly scandal here. The point is simple: when profit is bolted onto care, incentives change. Keep that in your head while we talk AISH, the CDB, Continuing Care, and ADAP.
The CDB Shell Game (community vs. facility)
Alberta’s rule is brutally neat: if you’re on AISH in the community, the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) is treated as non‑exempt income. You get the federal $200, Alberta knocks $200 off your AISH. Your total stays flat; the province saves $200. If you’re in an approved Type A or Type B continuing‑care facility (AISH calls this modified living), that same CDB is exempt for the AISH calculation—so you keep it on top of your small personal allowance.
Quick scale check: Alberta’s caseload sits around ~79,000 people on AISH (June 2025 snapshot) — roughly ~76,774 in the community and ~2,472 on modified living in facilities. If every community client got the full CDB (they won’t), that’s an upper‑bound ~$184M/year the province doesn’t have to pay out of AISH. Call it what you want; it’s not going to folks’ pockets.
Modified Living (money vs. actual living)
Move into an approved Type A/B facility and AISH flips to modified living: a personal allowance to you and an accommodation amount paid straight to the operator. The personal allowance is a flat number (currently around $365/month). In that setting the CDB is ignored for the AISH math, so you keep it. So your personal allowance + whatever you qualify for from the CDB program.
In the community? You fight math and gravity. Calgary asking rents are floating around two grand; Edmonton sits in the mid‑$1,500s. AISH at $1,901 doesn’t cut it once you add utilities, supplies, transit, and everything disability throws at you. A lot of people are juggling roommates, family couches, and waitlists for rent subsidies. It’s survival Jenga and the pieces keep falling all over the floor.
The $1B Build‑out (…and why labels matter)
The province is dropping $1 Billion over three years into “continuing‑care transformation,” including a Care Home stream for “specialty populations” (yes, under‑65 disabled folks are in the mix). Operators will be a mix: AHS subsidiaries, non‑profits, and for‑profits.
But only placements in approved continuing‑care (Type A/B) trigger AISH modified living and the CDB exemption. A Type C hospice generally does not. A PDD group home by itself does not—unless it’s also designated continuing care. The sign on the door matters.
So if you can’t make private housing work and you genuinely need daily on‑site help, a Type B placement can look safer and less financially punishing, because you finally keep your CDB. Is that an intentional nudge? Government says no. The incentives say… draw your own conclusions.
And for clarity, Type A facilities are formerly known as Long-term Care for the most part and Type B facilities are for those that need daily scheduled and unscheduled supports or have moderate to significant requirements for mobility, also known as Assistive or Supportive Living and quite common.
ADAP: What is confirmed (…and why it matters)
Yes, the government has confirmed there will be a combined AISH/ADAP application and that existing AISH clients will be placed into the program that’s “best suited” to their situation once ADAP goes live. Translation: people on AISH will be evaluated and many who are assessed as “able to work (now or with supports)” will be routed to ADAP. This isn’t tinfoil—it’s their plan.
What does “with supports” mean in practice? Not AHS clinics. It’s the usual Alberta model: community agencies (lots of non‑profits and for‑profits and soon to be more for-profits) plus private‑sector employers. And because demand will spike fast when thousands get reassessed, the providers that can scale the quickest—often for‑profit—stand to gain the most in contracts and head‑count.
Government spin is that ADAP is in addition to AISH, not a replacement. Fine. Then publish the final rates, the earnings grid, and the exact CDB rules for ADAP, and prove it. Until we see that in black and white, all we have is a funnel, a promise, and a lot of people whose lives will be rerouted by a form if none of this nonsense has a stop put to it.
Who actually benefits from the current setup?
· Province: saves money every time a community AISH recipient gets CDB (because AISH drops by the same amount).
· Operators: as the continuing‑care build‑out lands, occupancy and contracts flow to whoever runs the beds—public subsidiaries, non‑profits, and yes, for‑profits with more incoming.
· People living at home: lose the CDB as a top‑up and keep bleeding cash into a rental market that does not care.
· People placed in facilities: keep the CDB, but your life is now constrained by institutional rules and the thin personal‑allowance ceiling.
If the goal is dignity and poverty reduction, clawing back the CDB in the community does the opposite. It makes institutional settings look better on paper while starving the folks trying to live outside them.
What I want from this government?
1. Stop clawing back the CDB from AISH in the community. Other provinces figured this out. So can we. Stop claiming that because we are above the federal benchmark that we suddenly and arbitrarily need to consider it as income.
2. Publish ADAP’s final details (rates, earnings exemptions, and how CDB will be treated) in plain language, with a side‑by‑side so people can actually make choices.
3. Fund more home‑first supports (rent assistance, home‑care hours, PDD staffing) so people aren’t cornered into making janky decisions about trying to get in to facilities just to keep basic income and stay above water.
4. Real transparency on who’s getting the facility money and who owns/operates the beds—conflict‑of‑interest proof it.
The bigger picture (…and why people are pissed)
Put it together and you can see the arc: more people will look at Type B because life in private housing is nearly impossible and the CDB is actually kept in facilities. Assessments will follow, and that 2,472 modified‑AISH number climbs. Under the continuing‑care stream, that means more beds and more contracts, including for‑profit operators. Meanwhile, ADAP will send a wave of people into “work with supports,” and the fastest‑to‑scale providers—also often for‑profit—will hoover up those dollars too.
A lot of eyes are going to be on this, and for good reason. People already don’t trust this government and they hate how visibility evaporates when services are privatized. Less transparency. More room for shenanigans.
Either way, I’m not shutting up. I’ll keep amplifying the voices of disabled Albertans and anyone else getting steamrolled by “efficiencies.” We deserve honesty, transparency, and accountability from this government—and we’re not getting it.
See you on October 25th @ 1:00PM at the province‑wide protest (YEG).
Check the the BanTheBan.ca site for updated information regularly and use #BanTheBan on social media!