Sources close to the government’s proposed $5.3 billion dental care program say the Liberals are planning a temporary solution that includes giving money directly to patients to keep their promise to the NDP while they work on a permanent answer.
The Liberals promised the NDP a new dental care program for low- and middle-income families in March as part of a supply and confidence deal to stave off an election before 2025.
The government must by the end of the year provide some form of coverage for children under 12 with an annual household income of less than $90,000.
The NDP has vowed to pull out of the deal if the deadline is not met.
Four sources familiar with the government’s plan, but not authorized to speak publicly, said the government was unlikely to meet its deadline and was planning an interim solution until a permanent incarnation of the program was in place.
Although details are scarce, sources say the temporary solution will involve giving qualifying families the money directly to fund their dental health services while the government works on a more permanent, expanded program.
In a statement, health secretary officials neither confirmed nor denied the interim plan, but said they were on track to meet the dental care commitment outlined in the New Democrat agreement.
NDP health critic Don Davis also did not directly address the interim plan, but said in a statement that the party has “identified several ways to ensure that target groups have access to dental care within the timeframes.”
The NDP is now focused on pushing the Liberals to introduce dental care legislation when Parliament resumes in the fall, Davis said.
“This legislation will provide the necessary resources to help children under 12 see a dentist and take care of their teeth this year,” he said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh echoed the health minister’s faith in meeting last week’s deadline.
“We are very confident that we can achieve this before the end of the year as stated in our agreement,” Singh told a news conference last Thursday.
The agreement is not prescriptive about how coverage should be achieved, and the government has not yet committed to specific means to administer the program.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ office has repeatedly said the department is looking at several options to meet its commitment and the year-end deadline.
The NDP originally envisioned a federal program that would function similarly to the federal health benefits program that runs for uninsured First Nations and Inuit.
The federal government could also offer money to provinces and territories to take it on, as many already offer similar programs and dental care traditionally falls under their jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the Liberals issued a formal request for information (RFI) to members of the insurance industry two weeks ago to explore what role private companies could play in administering the program.
In that RFI, the government says that if a contract is awarded, the winning company will be given six months to prepare before processing claims. This schedule would be impossible to achieve before the end of December.
According to a statement from Duclos staff, they are still consulting on the best way forward.
The Liberals have promised to expand the program to qualifying teenagers, seniors and people with disabilities next year and everyone else in the qualifying family income bracket by the end of the supply and confidence deal in 2025.
“Not surprisingly, the Trudeau government is not living up to the commitment it made to buy NDP support,” Conservative health critic Michael Barrett said in a statement.
Barrett said Canadians should be concerned that the government is not committed to maintaining the current health care system, “much less adding a new complex and expensive program to it.”
The government has set aside $5.3 billion over five years for the program, but the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s estimate is almost double that at $9 billion.
Once the program is fully implemented, the Liberals’ 2022 budget projects that it will cost about $1.7 billion a year to run, which is in line with the PBO’s estimate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 8, 2022.
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