Close X
    Friday, September 20, 2024
    ADVT 
    National

    Seniors over 87 can apply to join federal dental plan starting next week

    Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 11 Dec, 2023 11:22 AM
    • Seniors over 87 can apply to join federal dental plan starting next week

    The federal government hopes to avoid gumming up the works of its new dental-insurance plan by gradually phasing in enrolment over the course of the next year, Health Minister Mark Holland said Monday. 

    Seniors over the age of 87 will be the first cohort to be able to apply to join a new federal dental-insurance plan. 

    It will be slowly expanded over the course of 2024 to include all qualifying seniors, children under the age of 18 and people with disabilities.

    Holland announced the rollout of the program, which is currently budgeted to cost $13 billion over the next five years, at a news conference at a dental clinic at Algonquin College in Ottawa. 

    The program is aimed at people with an annual household income under $90,000 who don't have access to private insurance.

    "Far too many people have avoided getting the care that they need simply because it was too expensive, and that’s why this plan is essential," Holland said. As many as nine million Canadians lack private coverage, he added.

    There has been "enormous additional cost" to the health system — to say nothing of a person's own dignity — when people have to wait until their oral health is so dire that they have to get treatment at the emergency room, Holland said.

    "We know we can do better."

    Coverage will include preventive, diagnostic, restorative and surgical services — including X-rays, fillings, root canal treatments and dentures, among others, he said. 

    Once eligibility is expanded to all qualifying Canadian residents in 2025, it will be the government's largest social program. 

    "This is a proud moment, I think for all Canadians, in expanding what is the definition of health care in Canada," said Holland.

    The insurance plan is a key pillar in the Liberal's supply-and-confidence deal with the New Democrats to secure the opposition party's support on key votes. 

    The NDP lauded the news in a statement Monday, styling the plan as "the NDP national dental care program." 

     

    Prev Next

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Locked out Rogers Communications workers in B.C. ratify five-year contract

    Locked out Rogers Communications workers in B.C. ratify five-year contract
    Nearly 300 Rogers Communications workers have voted strongly in favour of a new contract, ending a company lockout that began two weeks ago. The United Steelworkers union Local 1944, Unit 60, says in a statement that its members voted 96 per cent in favour of ratifying the tentative agreement reached last Friday.

    Locked out Rogers Communications workers in B.C. ratify five-year contract

    'Bank of mom and dad' study: B.C. high earners get housing boost if parents also own

    'Bank of mom and dad' study: B.C. high earners get housing boost if parents also own
    A Statistics Canada study into what it calls the "bank of mom and dad" shows home ownership among young high earners in British Columbia increases more than anywhere else in Canada if their parents are homeowners, too. The study also finds that nationally, people born in the 1990s are twice as likely to own a home if their parents are homeowners, compared to those whose parents are not.

    'Bank of mom and dad' study: B.C. high earners get housing boost if parents also own

    Port Moody Police arrest knife brandishing teen

    Port Moody Police arrest knife brandishing teen
    Police in Port Moody are investigating after arresting a 15-year-old who allegedly brandished a knife while chasing another teen through a crowd of students at a busy bus stop. Police say it happened yesterday afternoon (in the 13-hundred block of David Avenue) when a fight between two young people escalated into the armed chase.

    Port Moody Police arrest knife brandishing teen

    Eby says governments must step up on housing, can't rely on private sector

    Eby says governments must step up on housing, can't rely on private sector
    British Columbia Premier David Eby says it's "hard to understand" why other politicians still believe in relying on the private sector to deliver affordable housing and instead it's time for governments to step up. Eby says there are proposals at the federal level to sell public land and buildings to help solve the crisis, but B.C. is doing the opposite by taking inventory of provincially and municipally owned land in order to build more homes.

    Eby says governments must step up on housing, can't rely on private sector

    Victoria Police warn pedestrians of cougar roaming near downtown

    Victoria Police warn pedestrians of cougar roaming near downtown
    Police are warning pedestrians about an adult cougar roaming near downtown Victoria, telling them to avoid the area this morning. Victoria Police say on social media the cougar was spotted near Jutland Road and Dunedin Street, near the Victoria waterfront and north of the downtown core.

    Victoria Police warn pedestrians of cougar roaming near downtown

    Charges stayed against teen brothers in shooting that left one dead, two injured

    Charges stayed against teen brothers in shooting that left one dead, two injured
    The Crown has stayed charges against two teenage brothers in a Calgary shooting that left one man dead and two others injured last week. A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, had been charged with one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

    Charges stayed against teen brothers in shooting that left one dead, two injured

    PrevNext