2023-12-31 09:56:15
Earlier this month, the federal government unveiled its dental insurance plan, which will provide dental care benefits to low- and middle-income Canadians without private insurance starting in 2024. However, health care providers are concerned regarding the consequences of the new regime on their workload and remuneration.
For dental providers, many questions are left unanswered. For example, it is still unclear how dentists will register for the new program, how the billing process will work, how much Ottawa will be willing to pay for scaling, filing or extractions, and whether the services will be equivalent to those currently offered by private insurance plans.
If our questions and concerns aren’t answered, I don’t know if dentists will want to sign up for this program, said Dr. Brock Nicolucci, president of the Ontario Dental Association.
The latter draws particular attention to the public dental care plans for low-income children and elderly people set up by the provinces. In Ontario, some plans only pay 18% of the suggested rate, which is not very financially profitable for dentists, he says. This is a big concern.
Administrative constraints
Federal Health Minister Mark Holland says the $13 billion federal dental program will pay dentists fairly. Ottawa has also signed a $747 million contract with insurance giant Sun Life to help it manage the plan.
The minister also explained that the Canada Dental Care Plan would follow a model similar to the Non-Insured Health Benefits for First Nations and Inuit (New window), a current federal program that covers certain health services, including dental care, which other provincial and private plans do not cover.
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Federal Health Minister Mark Holland announced the new dental care plan on December 11, 2023 in Ottawa.
Photo: The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld
Nicolucci said, however, that even existing public dental programs that pay dentists require so much paperwork that dental clinics can’t easily handle it, especially as they face staffing shortages. .
As for dental hygienists, the situation is also worrying.
We want to ensure that the administrative burden is reduced.
Every week, dental providers meet with federal officials to hammer out details of the plan, and Love said hygienists have been told they will be able to sign up for the program in February. The devil really is in the details. This is what the government is working on at the moment, finalizing the price list and the services provided, she said.
Good use of public money
Introducing a regime of this nature will invariably be fraught with difficulties, said Dr. Carlos Quiñonez, a dental public health specialist at Western University in London, Ontario.
Dentists talk a lot regarding the administrative burden of public dental programs, […] but the fact remains that controls are necessary to be able to make good use of public money.
He said that despite the administrative and financial burdens of caring for these patients, he believes most dental providers will want to participate in the program.
According to Ottawa’s estimates, the new plan should help pay for dental care for 9 million Canadians.
We must also remember that dentists, like dental hygienists and denturists, are health care providers first and business people second, continued Dr. Carlos Quiñonez.
Reducing barriers for vulnerable people
Ottawa also promised $250 million, starting in 2025, for the creation of an oral care access fund, which would be used to reduce barriers to access to care for vulnerable people.
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Dental hygienist Rosemary Vaillant runs a mobile dental clinic that visits around 40 long-term care homes in Ottawa.
Photo : Brian Morris/CBC
Dental hygienists, like Rosemary Vaillant who runs a mobile dental clinic that visits regarding 40 long-term care homes in Ottawa, said they hope the government will also fund preventive care services for seniors, especially since they may have difficulty maintaining their oral hygiene.
Currently, Ms. Vaillant tries to ease the financial burden on her patients by sometimes splitting an appointment so they can afford to have their teeth treated. We do half the mouth, then they leave, and we give them another appointment to do the other half, she explains. [Car] I feel bad that they can’t afford it.
John Kelso, 87, one of Vaillant’s patients, said he was grateful that seniors and other vulnerable Canadians might benefit from free dental care.
Teeth are very important, he said. I am very happy to see all this. I wish this had been the case a few years ago.
According to a text by Marina von Stackelberg, from CBC (New window)
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