Millions of uninsured Canadians will be excluded from a new federal dental program because their household incomes are too high, according to a new report from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.
Last month, registration began for the new program, which is scheduled to be fully implemented in 2025.
Millions of uninsured Canadians will be excluded from a new federal dental program because their household income is too high, according to a new report from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives.
Registration began last month for a new federal benefits program developed as a condition of a political agreement between the Liberal government and the NDP.
The federal government will provide dental benefits to uninsured households with annual household incomes of less than $90,000, including the elderly, children under 18, and people with disabilities.
Report author David McDonald said that when the program is fully implemented in 2025, income limits will exclude 4.4 million people without dental benefits of their own.
MacDonald estimated that extending coverage to people above the income cap in 2025 would cost $1.45 billion, on top of the $3.3 billion already budgeted for the program that year. There is.
He argues that while $45,000 per adult is not a particularly large income for a two-parent family, that salary would prevent them from accessing government programs.