Canada Is Set To Get A New Dental Care Program & Here's Everything We Know About It So Far

Thanks to a new deal between Justin Trudeau's Liberals and the NDP, a new national dental care program to support low-income Canadians could be just around the corner.

On Tuesday, March 22, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his party had made a supply and confidence agreement with Jagmeet Singh's NDP to keep the current government in power until 2025.

In exchange for NDP support, the Liberals have agreed to take action on a number of key NDP priorities — including national dental care and universal pharmacare programs.

On Tuesday, Jagmeet Singh described the move as "the biggest expansion of health care in a generation" and, per CBC News, said it would make "a massive difference for health and for people's quality of life."

Here's a look at what we know so far.

Dental care for low-income families

In a statement on March 22, the feds confirmed that the new dental care program would cover Canadian families with an annual income of under $90,000.

Additionally, those with a household income under $70,000 would not have to make a co-payment — which is the set fee that can be charged each time a person makes a claim — meaning that essentially, dental costs would be fully covered by the feds for that group.

CBC News reports that the plan does not call for specific investments in the health care system or health care workers to implement the new program.

Around 6.5 million Canadians are expected to be eligible for the program.

The cost of the program may be revealed in the upcoming federal budget next month, although similar NDP proposals have already been priced out.

In 2020, it was estimated that a program like this would cost around $4.3 billion during its first year of operation. After this, the estimated cost was $1.5 billion annually until 2025.

The higher cost in the first year is based on the assumption that those with unmet needs would head to the dentist as soon as they became eligible for covered treatment, per CBC.

When can we expect it?

The government says the program would open to children under 12 years old as early as 2022, before expanding to children under 18, seniors and those living with a disability by 2023.

"Full implementation" is set to begin by 2025, which is the same year the supply and confidence agreement will expire.

What else?

Another thing Justin Trudeau has promised to take action on under the deal is a national universal pharmacare program in Canada.

Federal officials say the government has plans for "continuing progress towards a universal national pharmacare program by passing a Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of 2023."

Speaking on Tuesday, Jagmeet Singh said the moves on both dental care and pharmacare will "get help to people in this difficult time."

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.