{"id":51538,"date":"2025-10-02T15:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/51538\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T15:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:51:11","slug":"5-million-canadians-now-covered-by-national-dental-care-plan-but-nearly-half-havent-been-to-a-dentist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/51538\/","title":{"rendered":"5 million Canadians now covered by national dental care plan, but nearly half haven’t been to a dentist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health Canada is touting the major uptake of its public dental insurance program, but data shows that nearly half of the 5.2 million eligible patients have yet to see a dentist.<\/p>\n

Of the Canadians approved for coverage, 2.8 million have been to a dental clinic.<\/p>\n

The new data comes six months after the Canadian Dental Care Plan expanded to cover 18-64 year olds. So far, 1.8 million people in\u00a0this newest cohort\u00a0are approved for the plan. A quarter of them have actually used the program so far.<\/p>\n

Health Canada also now says close to 100 per cent of active dentists, denturists\u00a0and independent\u00a0dental hygienists\u00a0are treating\u00a0patients through the program. It’s a significant milestone considering initial uptake from dentists was\u00a0low<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Minister asked why only half of Canadians enrolled in dental care program have seen a dentist:\"\"<\/p>\n

Health minister asked why only half of Canadians enrolled in dental care program have seen a dentist<\/p>\n

Health Minister Marjorie Michel, speaking on Thursday in Ottawa, said the fact that more than five million people have been accepted into the federal dental care program is good news because the program is available for them, even if many haven’t seen an oral health provider.<\/p>\n

The national insurance program subsidizes the cost of dental care for Canadian residents with a family net income below $90,000, if they\u00a0don’t have access to a private insurance plan.<\/p>\n

The plan helps pay for a range of dental work\u00a0including cleanings, fillings and dentures. Health Canada says on average, each patient has had\u00a0$800 in expenses covered per year.<\/p>\n

Dental clinics can also “balance bill,”\u00a0meaning they can charge more than what the federal government\u00a0covers, requiring the patient to pay the difference.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Dental Care Plan began in May 2024 for seniors, then children and Canadians who received the disability tax credit. In May 2025, it expanded to all eligible Canadians.<\/p>\n

The massive, multibillion-dollar public insurance program\u00a0was brought in as a result of the\u00a0NDP, which propped up the previous Trudeau Liberal minority government for two years in the House of Commons in return for major social programs like dental care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health Canada is touting the major uptake of its public dental insurance program, but data shows that nearly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-51538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}