Projected cost of federal dental program set to more than double: Budget 2023
The new federal budget shows the government's dental-care insurance program is now set to cost more than double what the Liberals originally thought, adding another $7.3 billion over five years.
Last year, the government set up a temporary dental benefit for uninsured children under the age of 12 in families with a household income of less than $90,000.
That benefit will be scrapped by June 2024. In its place, Tuesday's budget shows the Liberals are planning a government-administered insurance program, at a cost of $13 billion over five years beginning in fiscal year 2023-24.
"By the end of 2023, we will begin rolling out a dental care plan for what will eventually be up to nine million uninsured Canadians," Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in her speech to the House of Commons after tabling the budget Tuesday, according to a prepared version of her remarks.
- Details: Budget 2023 prioritizes pocketbook help and clean economy
- Capital Dispatch: Sign up for in-depth political coverage of Parliament Hill
The Liberals will open eligibility this year to people who are under the age of 18, seniors, and people with disabilities who meet the income criteria and do not have insurance. They plan to expand that eligibility to anyone who meets the household income requirements by 2025.
The program is the linchpin of the minority government's confidence-and-supply deal with the NDP to prevent an election before 2025 in exchange for progress on some of the opposition party's key priorities.
The phased-in approach to expanding eligibility is also outlined in the deal, along with deadlines.
Original estimates were based on preliminary information gathered just weeks after the federal government signed on to that deal, but government officials say they've revised that after learning what it will really cost to administer the program.
In the 2022 budget, the government estimated the ongoing cost of the program would be about $1.7 billion per year. Now that estimate has reached $4.4 billion.
Freeland defended the cost of the program, calling it a "necessary expansion of health care."
"It does cost a lot of money," she conceded at a press conference earlier in the day.
The Canadian Dental Association warned the government early on that the initial estimate was likely "light," given the cost of private dental insurance, said Dr. Lynn Tomkins, the group's president, in an interview Tuesday.
"We could tell that the amount that they proposed -- which we were happy to see -- wasn't going to be sufficient if they expected another nine million Canadians to be able to get in to see the dentist," said Tomkins.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer also warned the government last summer that its estimates would likely fall short, and suggested setting aside $9 billion over a five-year period instead of the $5.3 billion budgeted.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he believes people who qualify for coverage will save money when they go to the dentist.
"I think Canadians are going to be happy with that, and they're going to be happy knowing that they're going to be able to get their teeth fixed," he said.
Singh said the dental-care program would not have been in the budget if not for his party's efforts.
"We forced the government to do this," he said.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also gave the NDP the credit, or rather the blame, for the large cost increase.
"We have an NDP government that is running massive inflationary deficits, bankrupting households, keeping young people living in their parents' basements, forcing seniors to choose between heating and eating," Poilievre told reporters outside the House of Commons on Tuesday.
The text of the budget document did not provide details on phased-in approach, instead suggesting the government would expand eligibility to all uninsured Canadians whose household fell below the $90,000 income threshold.
Freeland later clarified the government would stick with its plan.
"We are going to be rolling it out step by step by step," Freeland said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
"Delivering an entirely new aspect of the Canadian health-care system is not a cakewalk. It's challenging, it's complicated, and so that's why we're taking a step-by-step approach."
More details about the kinds of services that will be covered have yet to be announced, but the budget does show the government plans to contract the claims process out to a private firm.
Families that make less than $70,000 will not have co-pays.
The government plans to require all employers to report on whether their staff have benefits as part of their T4 tax forms, to prevent anyone with existing insurance from being able to access the new federal plan.
The Liberals announced an Oral Health Access Fund in the budget, which would pay for initiatives that make it easier for vulnerable communities and people who live in rural and remote areas to care for their teeth.
The budget sets aside $250 million for the fund, starting in 2025-26 fiscal year with $50 million.
The Liberal also propose to set aside $23 million over the next two year to collect better data on oral health to inform the rollout of the dental insurance plan.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?
Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
WHO likely to issue wider alert on contaminated cough syrup
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
WATCH Video shows dramatic police takedown of carjacking suspects chased through parking lot north of Toronto
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
'It was all my savings': Ontario woman loses $15K to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Families to receive Canada Child Benefit payment on Friday
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Local Spotlight
UBC football star turning heads in lead up to NFL draft
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Cat found on Toronto Pearson airport runway 3 days after going missing
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly on a mission: N.S. student collecting books about women in sport for school library
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Where did the gold go? Crime expert weighs in on unfolding Pearson airport heist investigation
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
Marmot in the city: New resident of North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale a 'rock star rodent'
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
Relocated seal returns to Greater Victoria after 'astonishing' 204-kilometre trek
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Ottawa barber shop steps away from Parliament Hill marks 100 years in business
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
'It was a special game': Edmonton pinball player celebrates high score and shout out from game designer
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
'How much time do we have?': 'Contamination' in Prairie groundwater identified
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.