WELLNESS MATTERS
The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP)
As all too many people who don’t have dental insurance know, a tooth ache amounts to a major pain in the wallet. The cost of regular checkups and cleaning? Ouch. When there’s news from the health expert with the drill—leaning over your chair—that you need a root canal and a crown or, worse yet, an extraction and a dental implant? Now that really hurts financially.
But not any longer.
The new Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) has officially launched. It’s for eligible Canadian residents who don’t have access to dental insurance and have an adjusted family net income of less than $90,000.
Eligibility is the tricky part. If you have a spouse or common-law partner, you both need to meet the criteria. And, as stated at canada.ca, not having access to dental insurance means:
“You don’t have dental insurance:
-through your employer or a family member’s employer benefits, including health and wellness accounts;
-through your pension (previous employer) or a family member’s pension benefits;
-purchased by you or a family member or through a group plan from an insurance or benefits company.”*
The new public plan is being rolled out in phases, starting with seniors. Applications opened last December for seniors aged 87 and up. People aged 77 to 86 were added in January, followed by those aged 72 to 76 in February, then folks aged 70 to 71 in March. If you’re aged 65 to 69, you can apply in May. Adults with a Disability Tax Credit certificate and youth under age 18 can apply in June, while the remainder of eligible Canadians can sign up in 2025.
The actual start date for the coverage varies, but once you’re enrolled, a range of oral health-care services will be covered. They include exams, cleaning, polishing, x-rays, fillings and, yes, even root canal treatments, extractions and dentures.
As Terry Beech, Minister of Citizens’ Services, notes, “Eligible Canadians will receive a letter in the mail that will detail how to enrol in the dental plan over the next number of months.”
Even after you’re enrolled, though, you’re encouraged to check with your oral health-care provider to ensure the procedure you’re about to get is actually covered by the CDCP. Even if you are covered by the plan, you may have a co-payment (a per centage to pay the provider), based on your adjusted family net income. It’s best to read the fine print and check the details at Canada.ca/dental before you proceed.
You can also get more information and apply by phone at 1 833 537-4342.
*Source: canada.ca/en/services/benefits/dental/dental-care-plan.html
