Canada’s national dental care plan begins covering 1.7 million seniors today — the first phase of a massive public oral health-care insurance program that eventually will cover one quarter of Canadians. But many patients may still be kept waiting to get their dental visits covered.Shannon Maitland, a dental hygienist in the Ottawa area, has signed up as a provider of the CDCP.
Dentists, denturists and hygienists have generally supported a national, publicly funded dental insurance program, arguing it will fill the gap of nine million low- and middle-income Canadians who have to pay for oral health care out of pocket.'Hundreds of thousands' of seniors will get subsidized dental care next month, health minister vows
"The vast majority of dentists are still waiting for more information before they agree to participate," said Dr. Joel Antel, a Winnipeg dentist and the newly elected president of the Canadian Dental Association."I have to admit to a certain amount of disappointment, because I was involved in this process very early on and it looked really promising," he said.
"That's nuts. Just to be fair ... at some point let's call a spade a spade here. Are you crazy?" he said outside a cabinet meeting in the House of Commons. Dr. Brandon Doucet, a Nova Scotia dentist who has advocated for a national public dental insurance plan, said he understands many dentists' reluctance — and a lot of it has to do with their experiences trying to provide the public programs in place right now.
"Many dentists just do not and have never wanted public dental care, similar to physicians' opposition to universal health care in the 1960s," he said. "There are some things that certainly we were hoping to get all launched at the same time," said Jaro Wojcicki, a denturist in Penetanguishene, Ont., and president of the Denturist Association of Canada.
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