The NDP promises universal dental care program
Andrea Horwath, leader of the Ontario NDP. Photo courtesy of party website.
The provincial election has not even started, but the NDP are promising a universal dental health care plan.
One in three working people do not have a workplace benefits plan and seniors and those on social assistance are left without coverage too, according to an NDP press release.
“That means millions of people are not covered for basic dental care,” said leader Andrea Horwath. “It means they have to live in pain, deal with the lifelong damage of going without dental care, or rack up credit card bills to see a dentist. It’s time to help people be healthier, and make life more affordable in Ontario.”
Single mother of three and small business owner Clarissa Macgregor-Mitchell said the idea sounds nice; however, she is still skeptical whether the platform would be a no-strings-attached deal for workers like her without benefits.
“When I give it thought it raises a number of questions. Will there be a vast number of exclusions as to what is covered? What about child coverage?” said Macgregor-Mitchell. “It certainly sounds like a great first step, I would need to continue to read and see the finer details.”
According to the NDP press release, all employed people, including part-time workers, contractors, freelancers and people working in non-traditional settings will have a minimum standard for dental plans. Businesses can meet the standard by participating in a new publicly administered Ontario Benefits plan or choose a comparable workplace benefits plan for employees.
Dan Savoie, publisher of YQG Rocks, says the NDP have a big challenge ahead of them.
“An Ontario Universal Pharmacare Plan with dental and prescription drugs would be an amazing thing to have, but we should be concerned about the costs of such a plan,” said Savoie. “Ontario is already taxed to death and no matter where you work or how much money you make, we’ve all been affected by 15 years of extremely poor government spending.”
The investment would be the largest in dental care in the province’s history at $1.2 billion.
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