Close X
    Saturday, September 21, 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

    Reasons for releasing Chinatown stabbing suspect should be public: B.C. Review Board

    Reasons for releasing Chinatown stabbing suspect should be public: B.C. Review Board
    A British Columbia man accused of a triple stabbing in Vancouver's Chinatown in September has lost his bid to seal a document that identified him as a "significant threat" before he was released from a forensic psychiatric hospital. A B.C. Review Board panel said the presumption of the board's open process overrides Blair Donnelly's concerns that releasing the documents would invade his personal privacy or prejudice an upcoming trial. 

    Reasons for releasing Chinatown stabbing suspect should be public: B.C. Review Board

    B.C.-based Helijet orders first electric vertical-takeoff aircraft

    B.C.-based Helijet orders first electric vertical-takeoff aircraft
    Vancouver-based Helijet International has placed what it says is Canada's first order for an electric vertical-takeoff aircraft to add to its current fleet of passenger and cargo helicopters. Helijet president Danny Sitnam said Tuesday that the ALIA aircraft built by Vermont-based BETA Technologies would allow quicker, quieter and more efficient landings and takeoffs from hospitals and other emergency zones.

    B.C.-based Helijet orders first electric vertical-takeoff aircraft

    Medication could have been confused with Halloween treats in Colwood, B.C.: Police

    Medication could have been confused with Halloween treats in Colwood, B.C.: Police
    Police in a community west of Victoria are urging parents to check their children's Halloween candy carefully for medication that might have been mistakenly handed out to trick-or-treaters. West Shore RCMP say they received a call from a senior living in Colwood, near the intersection of Bette Drive and Charlotte Drive.

    Medication could have been confused with Halloween treats in Colwood, B.C.: Police

    B.C. pair accused of neglect in death of North Okanagan youngster in 2020

    B.C. pair accused of neglect in death of North Okanagan youngster in 2020
    Two North Okanagan residents have been ordered to appear in a Vernon, B.C., courtroom in January as they face charges of neglect that led to the death of a child nearly four years ago. RCMP Cpl. James Grandy says police were called to the Lumby area east of Vernon on April 4, 2020, after paramedics located a critically ill boy.  

    B.C. pair accused of neglect in death of North Okanagan youngster in 2020

    2 men shot outside South Vancouver nightclub

    2 men shot outside South Vancouver nightclub
    Police say they're investigating after two men were shot at outside Gallery nightclub in south Vancouver early Sunday morning. They say officers responded to reports of gunfire and found a 44-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his arm, while the other man wasn't injured.  

    2 men shot outside South Vancouver nightclub

    Body found in a Kelowna park

    Body found in a Kelowna park
    R-C-M-P in Kelowna say a man's body has been found in a park on the city's north side. A statement from the detachment says the body was found this morning in Sutherland Bay Park and it appears the victim may have been there through the night.  

    Body found in a Kelowna park

    PrevNext