Close X
    Sunday, November 10, 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

    Charges laid in White Rock man's shooting

    Charges laid in White Rock man's shooting
    Charges have now been laid in the fatal April 2022 shooting of 33-year-old White Rock resident David Goldstein. At the time of his death, police said the shooting -- at a south Surrey home -- did not appear random, but was not linked to the ongoing Metro Vancouver gang conflict.  

    Charges laid in White Rock man's shooting

    RCMP say several injured after coach bus rolls over in Saskatchewan

    RCMP say several injured after coach bus rolls over in Saskatchewan
    Firefighters had to break windows to free people trapped in a coach bus that rolled Wednesday morning in southeast Saskatchewan. Dwayne Stone, the fire chief for the Town of Grenfell, said they were called out to the crash on the Trans-Canada Highway east of Wolseley just after 7 a.m. Roads were extremely slippery after the area was doused by rain then covered in snow. 

    RCMP say several injured after coach bus rolls over in Saskatchewan

    Legislation to reduce housing starts delays

    Legislation to reduce housing starts delays
    Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says new legislation introduced today will reduce housing construction delays, delivering more homes for residents sooner.  He says that if Bill 44 is passed, local governments would need to shift their planning process to an "upfront framework." 

    Legislation to reduce housing starts delays

    Judge tells Ibrahim Ali jury to disregard testimony of Crown witness who died

    Judge tells Ibrahim Ali jury to disregard testimony of Crown witness who died
    Dr. Tracy Pickett, a specialist in emergency and clinical forensic medicine who was called as an expert witness by the Crown, had not finished testifying in B.C. Supreme Court when she was found dead on Sept. 28. She had testified about injuries suffered by the 13-year-old girl Ali is accused of killing.  

    Judge tells Ibrahim Ali jury to disregard testimony of Crown witness who died

    Judge says man who hit and killed two fellow UBC students should serve 3 years

    Judge says man who hit and killed two fellow UBC students should serve 3 years
    Provincial court Judge Glenn Lee told the court in Richmond, B.C., that Tim Goerner will still be young when his sentence is done and he can then spread a message to people about the dangers of drinking and driving. The court heard he had been drinking at a party before the high-speed crash that killed Emily Selwood and Evan Smith as they walked down a sidewalk on the university campus in the early morning hours of Sept. 26, 2021.

    Judge says man who hit and killed two fellow UBC students should serve 3 years

    Sex offender Randall Hopley removed his ankle bracelet to avoid court date: police

    Sex offender Randall Hopley removed his ankle bracelet to avoid court date: police
    Hopley, 58, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant and has a history of convictions for assault, property offences and sexual crimes that include three offences against children. He was declared a long-term offender and handed a six-year prison term for the 2011 abduction of a three-year-old boy from his home in Sparwood in southeastern British Columbia.  

    Sex offender Randall Hopley removed his ankle bracelet to avoid court date: police

    PrevNext