Filling the Cavities: Improving the Efficiency and Equity of Canada's Dental Care System

Yet, in the current system, there are many population groups in which individuals have difficulty accessing even urgently needed dental care.[...]the number of Canadians unable to access dental care is likely to grow rapidly in the next decade as the babyboom generation retires and loses insurance c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Commentary - C.D. Howe Institute 2018-05 (510), p.0_1-26
Main Authors: Blomqvist, Åke, Woolley, Frances
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Canadians
Charitable foundations
Competition
Conflicts of interest
Dental care
Dental insurance
Dentistry
Economic analysis
Efficiency
Emergency medical care
Equity
Health insurance
Insurance coverage
Long term health care
Oral hygiene
Politics
Population
Provincial government
Public health
Social policy
Studies
Systematic review
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Summary:Yet, in the current system, there are many population groups in which individuals have difficulty accessing even urgently needed dental care.[...]the number of Canadians unable to access dental care is likely to grow rapidly in the next decade as the babyboom generation retires and loses insurance coverage, and the number of Canadians working in the gig economy, where benefits such as employersponsored health insurance are rare, rises.[...]even if problems of access to dental care have not received a great deal of attention in the health policy debate, there is no doubt that, in the current system, there are many population groups in which individuals have had difficulty accessing even urgently needed dental care (Ramraj et al. 2013).[...]the number of Canadians unable to access dental care is likely to grow rapidly in the next decade as the babyboom generation retires and loses insurance coverage, and the number of Canadians working in the gig economy, where benefits such as employer-sponsored health insurance are rare, rises.[...]under Canadian tax law, employer contributions to workers' private health insurance are treated as a non-taxable benefit, which implicitly gives group plans an advantage over individual plans.First Steps Toward a Mixed Universal Model In preparation for later reforms to create a system of compulsory universal dental insurance, provincial governments could offer voluntary insurance plans that would be open to anyone willing to pay its quoted premium.
ISSN:0824-8001
1703-0765