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 priorities — including a national dental care program and a universal national pharmacare program.

On Tuesday, Jagmeet Singh described the move as "the biggest expansion of Canadian 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 shared on March 22, the feds confirmed that the new dental care program would cover Canadian families with annual incomes of under $90,000 who are lacking dental insurance.

Additionally, those with an income of $70,000 would not have to make a co-payment — which is the set fee which can be charged each time a person makes a claim. Essentially, it means dental costs would be fully covered by the feds for any individual or family earning less than $70,000 in total.

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 as of 2022.

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

In 2020, it was estimated that a program like this would cost $1.3 billion initially, before being upped to $4.3 billion during the first year of operation. After this, the assumed cost would be $1.5 billion annually until 2025.

The higher original cost is based on the assumption that those with unmet needs would head to the dentist as soon as they are 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 those under 18 years old by 2023.

Around the same time, seniors and those living with a disability will become eligible.

"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 pharmacare program in Canada.

Federal officials say the government has plans to "continue 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."