There's A Dental Care Plan In Canada's New Budget — Here's What We Know
There's also a pharmacare plan on the horizon.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland presents Canada's proposed budget in the House of Commons.
The 2022 federal budget was released yesterday with significant focus on affordable housing, dental care, and national defense in light of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, among other initiatives. So let's talk about what this could mean for your teeth.
While healthcare, in general, seems to be taking a backseat in this year's list of budget priorities, dental care in Canada will be getting an overhaul. If the budget passes, the healthcare system will receive $5.3 billion over the next five years and $1.7 billion moving forward to make dental care more accessible to Canadians.
The budget allocates funds to roll the plan out to kids aged 11 and younger this year. In 2023, kids and teens under 18, people with disabilities, and seniors would be added. The plan should be implemented fully for households that make less than $90,000 per year by 2025.
The exception to this plan will be families that earn less than $70,000 annually and receive copays from their insurance provider.
The Liberal party also intends to table a pharmacare bill, which they hope will be passed in 2023. The goal of the bill is to make prescription drugs more accessible to lower-income Canadians.
To help address the surgical backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the government is also providing provinces with $2 billion (on top of the $4 billion given in 2020 and 2021) "to address these backlogs." No other details were given.
These initiatives are part of the recent team-up between the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party (NDP). The arrangement intends to keep the Liberal Party in power until 2025, despite their minority, while addressing the NDP's priorities: issues concerning mainly lower-income Canadians.