Federal dental plan needs a little work: MDA

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This article was published 12/12/2023 (844 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new multi-billion-dollar federal dental-care plan — that will cover routine dental visits for people who meet a certain income threshold — falls short when it comes to consulting with dentists, says the president of the Manitoba Dental Association (MDA).

Ottawa released its $13-billion Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) on Monday, which says it will help Canadians who have a household income below $90,000 with no access to benefits through private insurance.

The first phase of the plan will be for seniors over the age of 87 who can apply for coverage later this month. The plan will then be expanded in 2024 to include all qualifying seniors, children under the age of 18 and people with disabilities.

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

The plan was announced outside a dental clinic at Algonquin College in Ottawa by federal Health Minister Mark Holland.

“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. As many as nine million Canadians lack private coverage,” Holland said in a news release.

“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,” said Holland.

Dentists in Manitoba are behind the program, said Dr. Scott Leckie, president of MDA, but he added there are still “a lot of details that need to be worked through.”

“There does need to be a plan,” Leckie said. “The dentists do support this notion of a national program, in particular seniors, the under-served younger kids, and the special needs people in our country. Those cohorts in particular are in need of a dental care program. There’s no doubt about that.”

The plan is a real win for Manitobans, said Thomas Linner, provincial director of Manitoba Health Coalition, which is a non-profit, non-partisan health-care advocacy organization that champions for universal, public health care.

“This is an excellent news, but our goal would be to see this go a step further towards a universal publicly administered plan. Right now, if you’re covered by your dental plan, not much changes for you. This mostly impacts those who do not have dental coverage and that is also the most vulnerable populations, so it’s good to start here,” Linner said.

When the CDCP was first announced by the federal government about two years ago, dental associations across the country offered suggestions, including making sure employers continue to offer dental coverage for their employees and allowing patients to choose the dentist they want with the plan.

Another concern for all dentists, and this is where the current plan falls short, Leckie said, is that no consideration was given to the fact that there is a shortage of dental assistants in Manitoba.

“There is a human resources issue that is considerable. There’s been a shortage of dental assistants in this province for a little while now, post-COVID. Dental assistants are similar to the nursing staff in medicine. And without them, dental practices have a hard time running. So, there is a need for HR, and that’s not an immediate fix,” Leckie said.

Additionally, there are concerns about making sure patients can access the care they need without having to worry about red tape, such as filling in forms, and how each dentist’s office will deal with the extra administrative duties.

“You’ve got an administration burden that that could really hamper the program because patients can’t get access to care in a timely fashion.

“And when it comes to enrolment, if say, someone in Hamiota doesn’t want to enrol in it, where does the patient have to go? Are we asking them to do a two-tiered system?

“And both Minister Holland, and Jean-Yves Duclos, who was prior health minister, both said that this will not land on the backs of dentists. And that’s a big concern for dentists, that it lands solely on the backs of dentists to provide this program,” Leckie said.

There were two Westman Members of Parliament (MPs) who voted against the new federal dental-care plan in October 2022.

Larry Maguire is the MP for Brandon-Souris, and Dan Mazier is the MP for Dauphin, Swan River, and Neepawa. The Sun reached out to both MPs in Ottawa, but neither was available for comment.

Manitoba Health Coalition’s Linner said he was disappointed that Maguire, Mazier and other MPs in the Conservative Party of Canada, voted against taking action on dental care.

“Those MPs and their families have public dental care insurance paid for by taxpayers, yet oppose expanding coverage to Manitobans in need,” Linner said.

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