(New Richmond) Québec solidaire resumes a historic commitment by promising universal public dental insurance, with an annual cost of 790 million.
Posted at 10:00 a.m.
The bill for the program was higher in 2018: the party estimated it at 950 million per year. But this year, QS is reducing that bill by calculating that Quebec would get $250 million by exercising “its right to opt out with full compensation” from a possible federal dental care program, a key part of the political deal between the NDP and the Justin Trudeau Liberals.
Concretely, QS undertakes to set up in a first mandate a public and universal dental insurance which will make it possible to:
- Cover 100% of dental care costs for youth under 18, social assistance recipients and seniors receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement
- For adults, cover 80% of costs for cleaning and preventive care, and 60% of costs for curative care, such as fillings and root canals
This year, Québec solidaire is including this promise in its bill reduction strategy. The party claims that Quebecers spend an average of $515 “per household, per year, to go to the dentist, on bills or on insurance payments.”
And the announcement is made at the heart of the Gaspé tour of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois’ caravan. This is no coincidence: the region has “twice as many dentists and hygienists per inhabitant” as in Montreal, lamented the QS candidate in Bonaventure, Catherine Cyr-Wright.
The solution: put an end to the free market, and force dentists to establish themselves “where the needs of the population are” with a workforce distribution plan modeled on that of doctors. In return, they will have remoteness bonuses. QS also wants to deploy a “preventive dental hygiene care program in CPEs, schools, CLSCs and CHSLDs” and impose a fee schedule on all dentists.
This year, the left party wants to make a breakthrough in Gaspésie. The riding of Bonaventure has nearly 800 members, one of the party’s largest delegations. The day before, more than a hundred activists gathered at the La Belleaventure microbrewery to hear a speech by Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.