SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

Right Hon. Justin Trudeau (Prime Minister, Lib.)

May/29/24 2:25:05 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party invoked inflation to oppose our dental care plan for seniors and our investments to pay for dental care for the most vulnerable, who may not have been to a dentist in years, or even decades. Is that inflation? No, it is help for Canadians who are struggling, who are having a hard time paying for groceries and who are worried about the cost of living. It is help that we are sending and that the Conservative Party is blocking at all costs. That is not being there for Canadians.

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Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

Hon. Mark Holland (Minister of Health, Lib.)

May/29/24 9:38:57 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, I want to thank the member for St. Catharines for his work and for his advocacy, in and out of public life. It is tragic when we see folks, who have not received the dental care that they need, wind up in an emergency room or wind up with an urgent health care situation that could have been avoided. Two weeks ago, I was in rural New Brunswick talking to a dentist who said, “I know exactly who does not have coverage in my community. I know that, on some given Saturday, that person is going to wind up in an emergency room, and I am going to get a call to go in and give care urgently, pro bono, away from my family, to try to fix that situation, hoping that it is not grievous for that individual.” I think that the member is talking about a situation very similar in St. Catharines. Not allowing people to have dental care is not just a matter of dignity, of somebody having a proud smile that makes them feel good about who they are and gives them confidence to be out in the world. It is fundamentally an issue of prevention. People who do not get good oral health care wind up with bad health outcomes. They cost our health system an inordinate amount of money. That is why I am so encouraged. The member asked for an update, and I gave it to the House earlier. We have seen more than 120,000 claims and over 100,000 seniors in just over three weeks. We are seeing, as of July 8, a new portal. We already have 10,500-plus oral health professionals who have signed up to this plan. I think we are going to see a real growth in that number. We have seen two million seniors signed up. Next month, we are going to be opening it up to persons under 18 and folks with disability who are currently on a disability tax credit. It would mean that, by next year, everybody, all nine million Canadians who do not have oral health care, will have coverage. One may ask why this was not done at the start of our health care system. Well, at the beginning, when we were starting so many decades ago with a national health care system in this country, it was thought that oral health was just a matter of cosmetics and that it was not essential health. Of course, science and data have evolved. We know that a myriad of diseases, illness and conditions is caused by lack of oral health. Oral health is health, and that is why it is so essential that we continue to make progress to make sure that every Canadian is covered.

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Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

Mr. Francesco Sorbara (Vaughan—Woodbridge, Lib.)

May/29/24 10:01:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is always a pleasure, an honour and a privilege, of course, to rise in the House and to speak tonight at the committee of the whole to the main estimates. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about dental care and the current work being done by our government to improve dental care or oral health care for all Canadians and approximately the nine million Canadians who we know do not have insurance, but who need to be able to visit their oral health care provider or dental care provider when they need to. Although inflation is easing and interest rates have stabilized, many Canadians are still struggling with the cost of food, housing and other essentials. That leaves some people having to make difficult choices about how to spend their money. Sometimes important expenditures have to be put on hold, including dental care. Faced with difficult financial choices, too many Canadians have had to postpone or forego important dental care or procedures. This can have wide-reaching impacts, including more expensive treatments and worsening health outcomes. To support the provinces and territories in the delivery of services, our government is committed to working together with them to improve health care for all Canadians. Underpinning these priorities is the principle that every Canadian should have access to health care services, regardless of who they are, where they live or their ability to pay. With this in mind, we are working on several fronts to expand access to key services, including making oral health care more available and more affordable for more Canadians. Having access to quality oral health care plays an important role in not only our oral hygiene, but also our overall health. Regular visits to the dentist can help reduce the risk of tooth decay, gum disease and a number of serious health issues, including stroke. Unfortunately, too many Canadians have been going without these regular checkups. The information that we have from Statistics Canada indicates that there are many obstacles to oral health care, the main one being financial. One in four Canadians avoids going to a dental professional because of the cost. That is one-quarter of Canadians who have to make the difficult decision to go without dental care and whose health could be affected by that. It bears repeating this in English to really drive the point home. One in four Canadians, Madam Speaker, does not visit a dental provider because of cost. That is a fourth of Canadians who have had to make the difficult decision to go without dental care and whose health might be impacted because of it. We know that cost is not the only thing preventing Canadians from accessing quality dental care. There are many other obstacles, such as living in a remote community, having limited mobility or specific needs, cultural barriers and not being aware of the need for preventive care. This also affects children. Tooth decay is the most common, yet preventable, childhood chronic disease, not just in Canada but around the world. Our government is committed to improving access to dental care across the country. This is why it has made, and continues to make, significant investments in oral health care, which is an essential part of overall health. The first phase of our approach started in December 2022, when we launched the Canada dental benefit. Thus far, 439,000 children have benefited from this program, with applications open until June 30. Budget 2023 announced an investment of over $13 billion over five years, starting in 2023-24, and $4.4 billion ongoing, to implement the new Canadian dental care plan, or the CDCP. By the time it is fully implemented, the CDCP is going to help make dental care more affordable for up to nine million Canadians who do not have access to dental insurance and who have an annual adjusted family net income of less than $90,000. In addition, May 1 marked a significant milestone in oral health care in Canada. The first million seniors covered under the CDCP were able to start receiving the dental care they need. A Newfoundlander and Labradorian was the very first senior to receive care where the costs were covered by the CDCP. That is exciting. An online application portal is now open for potentially eligible seniors, 65 years of age and above, to apply to the CDCP, and that is just the beginning. Starting in June of this year, adults with a valid disability tax credit certificate and children under the age of 18 will be able to apply to the CDCP. As of 2025, all remaining eligible Canadians will be able to apply. This is the biggest social program in Canadian history, and we have been working with dental providers across the country to make it happen. This has been great work by all of us. We are proud to see that as of May 2, there are more than 7,500 providers, I think the number is actually more than 10,000 now, who have confirmed their participation in the CDCP and are now treating seniors who are eligible for the dental care plan. That number continues to increase every day. We are so grateful to these participating providers and to the providers who would rather not fully participate but who will still accept CDCP patients. We are happy that starting July 8, CDCP patients will be able to see any dental provider of their choice, as long as the provider agrees to directly bill Sun Life for services provided under the plan. This is to limit the out-of-pocket costs of dental care for their CDCP patients. The CDCP will cover a wide range of oral health care services when recommended by a dental provider. This includes preventative care, such as scaling and cleaning, as well as other services, such as exams, x-rays, fillings, dentures and, yes, root canal treatments. The majority of services covered under the CDCP are now available. More will be added in November when services requiring pre-authorization, such as some kinds of dentures, crowns and major surgical procedures, will become available. The CDCP is a national program being delivered and launched simultaneously in all provinces and territories to ensure equal opportunity for Canadians who do not have access to dental insurance, the nine million Canadians we know of. Our government continues to engage with the provinces and territories on the interdependencies between the CDCP and the provincial and territorial publicly funded programs. Coverage will be coordinated not only to ensure there is no duplication, but also to ensure there are no gaps in oral health care. The important thing is that everyone, everywhere in the country, can receive equal dental care, no matter where they live. Budget 2023 also announced $250 million over three years, starting in 2025-26, and $75 million ongoing to Health Canada to establish an oral health care access fund. The fund will complement the Canadian dental care plan by contributing to further reducing the obstacles preventing Canadians from accessing oral health care, including in rural and remote communities. Health Canada will launch the first call for proposals under this fund this month. The call for proposals will give oral health training institutions an opportunity to present their ideas on how Health Canada funding might help them. For example, they may submit projects for addressing provider competency gaps that are contributing to obstacles to accessing care or for continuing to ensure that students receive the hands-on training they need to graduate. A second call for proposals will be launched this summer. It will not be just about training institutions, it will focus on other obstacles to improving oral health care. Budget 2023 proposes to provide $23.1 million over two years, starting in 2023-24, to Statistics Canada, to collect data on oral health and access to dental care in Canada. These data are crucial in helping governments devise policies that support access to dental care, that improve oral health outcomes for Canadians and that provide an effective work environment for oral health care workers. In November 2023, Statistics Canada launched a collection of the Canadian Oral Health Survey. The aim is to collect information from Canadians on their oral health, including their ability to pay, challenges finding oral health services, experience with the oral health care system and care needs. Furthermore, Statistics Canada also launched the first survey of oral health care providers. Survey results will help us better understand the financial and operational characteristics of oral health care providers in Canada.

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Context: House Hansard - 320 - May/29/24

Hon. Mark Holland

May/29/24 10:14:23 p.m.
Watch

Madam Chair, I remember meeting a hygienist a couple of weeks ago, and she said that she keeps looking for all the paperwork and the administration that she was told was going to be so hard to do and that she keeps looking behind her computer or waiting for somebody to come in and tell her she is doing something wrong because it has been nothing but easy. In fact, she was saying to me that it is easier than the private insurance plans that she has been dealing with. That is a common refrain everywhere. We are hearing from providers that once they try it, they see just how easy it is. Part of the evidence is that once we get a few providers in a region, there is an explosion of providers as they talk to each other and they see just how easy this program is to work with. We almost have all denturists participating, which is fantastic, because that means that seniors are getting the dentures they need. We have a really phenomenal uptake in hygienists. Hygienists are going to play such an important role, and I would really encourage people to consider using a hygienist because often, particularly in rural or remote places or in seniors' homes, hygienists can go directly to a population in need and can be able to serve them, and then simply refer them, if there is a need for a dentist. In a lot of instances, one does not even need to see a dentist. One just needs to get one's teeth cleaned. We are going to make sure that we are there for everybody as we continue to expand this plan. I am looking forward, next month, to seeing it open up to those under 18 and to persons with disabilities.

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