The federal government’s dental insurance plan will be gradually implemented in 2024, government sources tell The Canadian Press. This program should be officially announced on Monday.
Membership applications should be available next week, starting with those aged over 87. However, it will be several months before they can begin claiming benefits, officials said in guidelines provided to The Canadian Press, on the condition that they are not named.
The dental insurance plan is a condition of the support and confidence agreement between the Liberals and the New Democrats, which allows the minority Liberal government to secure the support of the NDP in key votes in the House of Commons .
The agreement provides for a plan that would provide dental benefits directly to low- and middle-income Canadians without private insurance.
Eligibility will gradually expand over the next year to include all eligible people over 65 by May 2024, then children under 18 and people with disabilities by June.
The first people enrolled in the program should be able to begin claiming dental services in May.
The government aims to make the program available to all eligible Canadians in 2025.
Once the program is fully expanded, it will be available to approximately nine million people, making it the federal government’s largest social program. The cost is estimated at $13 billion over the first five years.
To be eligible, applicants must be Canadian residents with a household income of less than $90,000 and without private insurance.
The government will check the criteria against applicants’ tax returns and has required employers to declare on T4 tax forms whether their employees have dental cover.
This means that people who do not file their taxes will not have access to the program.
The eligibility of persons with disabilities based on whether or not they receive a disability tax credit will be maintained at least until the program is extended to all persons who fall below the fixed income threshold.
The NDP welcomes this victory
The agreement between the NDP and the Liberals provides that the program must be launched for seniors, children under 18 and people with disabilities by 2024.
Although everything will be rolled out gradually over the next year, NDP health critic Don Davies assured that his party is delighted that a concrete program is in motion before the deadline, especially whether a gradual approach allows for a smoother deployment.
“If you go back to the beginning, people thought there were constitutional obstacles, they thought the pace of things was too ambitious, they didn’t think the stakeholders would cooperate,” Mr. Davies recalled in an interview with The Canadian Press Sunday evening.
“And here we are today, on the eve of the largest expansion of the health care system in a generation. »
The NDP has pledged to carefully monitor the program. He requested regular follow-ups to determine what is working and what is not.
“We need to make sure the program is administered in a truly effective way,” Davies said.
“Something I hear a lot about current federal programs is that administrative inefficiencies are a real obstacle. We must therefore ensure, when we have the chance to build everything new, that the program will be truly effective. »
Several services covered
The services offered, including preventative teeth cleanings, treatments and removable dentures, will closely mirror the services offered to First Nations and Inuit registered under the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program.
Once the new federal program launches, people will be able to take their benefit card to registered dental providers, who will apply on their behalf.
The Liberals want coverage to align with existing federal and provincial dental health benefits, but the government is still negotiating with each province which program would be the primary payer.
People receiving existing federal dental benefits, including refugees, veterans and First Nations people, will be eligible for the new federal program. So far there are no plans to merge the programs.
The government signed a $750 million contract with Sun Life Assurance Canada to manage the claims. The Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Jean-Yves Duclos, previously announced a $15 million agreement with the company to prepare the ground in September.
A copy of that agreement, obtained through the Access to Information Act, shows that the work includes preparations for the registration of dental providers, as well as the establishment of a website and ‘a call center to answer questions from oral health care providers and plan members.
The government plans to start sending letters to the first cohort of potential applicants next week, and it has set up its own call center to register seniors for the program.
In May, the registration process is expected to move to an online platform.
Once the government confirms the applicant’s eligibility, Sun Life will begin the registration process.