A mother who pays a $70 dentist bill for her child…and then receives a $650 check from the federal government to cover the cost.1
Sums reimbursed without presentation of any receipt, showing only a date of appointment with the dentist which can then be canceled.
In Quebec, treatments already reimbursed by the Régie de l’assurance maladie which are reimbursed twice by Ottawa.
We already knew that the Trudeau government’s new dental care program had been hastily drawn up, under pressure from the NDP, which holds the fate of the Liberal minority government in its own hands.
We knew that it would be subject to minimal supervision in its infancy, the federal government contenting itself essentially with sending checks to families who need them to cover the dental costs of children, without systematic checks.
Ottawa had mentioned a temporary program, “based on honor”, the guidelines for which would come later.
We knew all this, but we still made the leap when we heard the first echoes from the field concerning the new federal dental care program. A program that should still cost 5.3 billion over 5 years.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has also intervened publicly to denounce the risks of fraud and abuse that this program creates.
These echoes show us one thing: the urgency of tightening up this program and defining it.
The big problem at this point is that the federal government is still unable to tell us how and when it will set these guidelines.
This raises fears that the current laxity will become the norm and that, as is too often the case, the Trudeau government’s faucet will pour the money without worrying about plugging the leaks.
Let us remember how the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and wage subsidy programs have led to many abuses during the pandemic. The Auditor General has revealed that disbursements totaling no less than $27.4 billion should be “thoroughly investigated”. A fortune ! At the time, the government had at least the excuse of extreme urgency.
In the case of the dental care program, it is all the more crucial to raise the bar that this program is necessary.
It is unacceptable that in a country like ours, children and seniors are deprived of dental care because they cannot afford it. It doesn’t make sense for our public health care system to treat all your ailments except those that have the misfortune to occur in your mouth.
This is why it is necessary to give birth to a solid program, well controlled, which will withstand criticism and will last over time.
At the federal level, we are told that it is impossible to require receipts before reimbursing dental expenses. This would mean that low-income families pay the bill first, and many are unable to.
Obviously, insurance is worthless if those who need it the most cannot access it. But how many private insurers have found a way to charge only the unreimbursed amounts to their clients at the dentist’s counter?
The truth is that it is infinitely simpler to send checks than to structure an actual program. Especially when you know how much the federal machine struggles to provide services to its citizens.
Health Canada has little experience in administering population-based programs such as dental care. The most logical thing would have been to entrust its administration to Services Canada. But since we are already struggling to manage employment insurance benefits, we guess that no one has dared to throw more in this court.
It is therefore the Canada Revenue Agency that administers the dental care program, a curious link.
In Ottawa, we are told that they hope to eventually reach an agreement with the provinces so that they are the ones who take charge of your teeth. In Quebec, for example, all you have to do is hand your health insurance card to the dentist. The federal government would work with the provinces behind the scenes.
This would be ideal for patients, but such a scenario will require complex negotiations. The federal government must manage to bring them to a conclusion quickly, or set up its own system of rigorous checks.
One thing is certain, the current sloppiness, so characteristic of the way this government manages money, must end.