Budget 2022 makes good on dental care, but little in new health spending
CTV
The Liberals have made good on promises to the NDP when it comes to health spending in their newly released budget, but offered little else in new spending to reinvigorate Canada's struggling health system.
The government expects to launch a new dental program in 2022, starting with children under the age of 12 at an initial cost of $300 million.
The scheme laid out in the budget is a major tenet of the Liberal's confidence and supply agreement with the NDP to keep the government in power until 2025. The budget closely mirrors the opposition party's costed platform proposal from the 2021 election, though details about how it will work are still sparse.
The new program will be restricted to families with an income of less than $90,000, with no co-pays for those who make under $70,000 per year.
The plan is to expand eligibility to children under the age of 18, seniors and persons with disabilities in 2023. The government expects full implementation by 2025, with an annual cost of $1.7 billion.
