The federal New Democrats and the Liberals are touting the importance of the new Canadian Dental Care Plan.
New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh and Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk both held news conferences on Tuesday as both parties work to highlight the multi-million program laid out in the 2023 federal budget.
The program will expand on the existing Canada Dental Benefit that allows eligible families to receive the financial support they need to cover dental expenses for children under 12 years of age.
Once implemented, it will support up to nine million uninsured Canadians who have an annual family income of less than $90,000, with no co-pays for those with family incomes under $70,000, with the oral health care they need.
The plan is expected to begin rolling out by the end of 2023 with full implementation by the end of 2025.
Federal New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks at St. Clair College in Windsor. He is joined by Windsor West NDP MP Brian Masse and Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky. April 11, 2023 (Photo by Rusty Thomson)
Speaking during a stop at St. Clair College, Singh says this will save families on average $1,200 a year and for some families even more.
"I met with a senior couple, both of them are on a fixed income. Both of them need dental care that will cost over $1,100 each for a root canal, which they can not put off because of the pain they're in. For that family, they're going to save $2,200, so this is a real way to save money for people and it's also going to improve people's health," he says.
Singh says dental care should have always been included in the healthcare system.
"We see what happens when people don't get preventive care, like going to a hygienist regularly. They end up with a worse and worse problem that ends up putting them into the emergency room, putting lots of burden on our healthcare system. So it's an investment that's going to save us money, we know that when people have good oral health, they have good overall health, that's good for our society," he says.
The budget includes $13-billion over five years, starting in 2023-24, $7-billion over initial estimates.
There is also $4.4-billion to implement the new Canadian Dental Care Plan, above the 2022 budget estimate of $1.7 billion per year in ongoing costs.
The federal government has cited greater than expected demand as the reason for the increased costs.
Singh says they pushed the government to do a couple of things they weren't going to do otherwise to pay for the program.
"We said that while people are feeling the squeeze of inflation, there are some people benefiting from inflation, like the big banks, they made record profits," he says. "In our agreement, we forced the government to increase the contribution of big banks and big insurance companies to increase revenue, so we forced them to do that."
Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal M-P Irek Kusmierczyk speaks at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. April 11, 2023 (Photo by Rusty Thomson)
Windsor-Tecumseh Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk says 1 in 3 adults in this region do not have a dentist.
"The extended dental plan we put forward in this year's budget will be a game changer for seniors, persons with disabilities and those under of 18, who will be covered by the end of this year. We anticipate the new Canada Dental Care Plan will extend dental care to nine-million Canadians when it is fully operational by 2025," he says.
Kusmierczyk says oral health is healthcare.
"It benefits all Canadians in the sense that if you don't take care of your oral health, inevitably it will lead to bigger, larger problems that have to be taken care of in emergency rooms, hospital visits and puts additional strain on the healthcare system," he adds.
Dental care is the centrepiece of the confidence-and-supply deal the Liberals signed with the NDP in March of 2022.
The New Democrats have pledged to vote with the government on key items to prevent an election before 2025 in exchange for progress on certain priorities, like a dental care plan.