The federal government unveiled its new dental-care plan on Monday — a $13-billion insurance program that will start covering routine dentistry costs next year for people who meet a certain income threshold.
Ottawa will cover kids under 18 and some seniors first before expanding the program to all eligible low- and middle-income Canadians in 2025.
Applications for seniors aged 87 and over will open later this month. Other age groups will able to apply in the new year.
The staggered application process is designed to make the rollout as smooth as possible. The government says it expects millions of people to avail themselves of this new component of Canada’s social safety net.
Coverage will be phased in over time, but some eligible participants will start to receive benefits as early as May 2024. Costs incurred before the relevant start date will not be covered.
This insurance-based program replaces the interim program that has been sending cheques directly to families with kids under 12 for the last year.
To be eligible for the program, a person must have a household income below $90,000 and no access to an existing private insurance plan. The person must also have filed a tax return so the government can verify income.
The plan is most generous for families that have household incomes below $70,000. They face no co-pays to a participating dentist, hygienist or denturist, and Ottawa will pick up the tab for covered services like cleaning, polishing, examinations, X-rays, fillings, root canal treatments and complete and partial removable dentures.
Families with incomes between $70,000 and $79,999 will face a 40 per cent co-pay, and for those in the $80,000 to $89,999 income bracket, the co-pay jumps to 60 per cent. The federal plan will cover the rest of the costs incurred.
Services to be covered under the Canadian dental care plan:
Preventive services, including scaling (cleaning), polishing, sealants and fluoride
Diagnostic services, including examinations and x-rays
Restorative services, including fillings
Endodontic services, including root canal treatments
Prosthodontic services, including complete and partial removable dentures
Periodontal services, including deep scaling
Oral surgery services, including extractions.
Health Minister Mark Holland described the government’s plan as “transformative” because it will provide coverage to the nearly nine million Canadians who do not already have access to dental insurance.
“We know we can have the best health system in the world and today is a monumental step in that direction,” Holland said.
“It’s going to make life better for eligible Canadian residents who won’t have to choose between paying their bills and getting the help they absolutely need,” he said.
$13B dental plan to be ‘transformative,’ minister says
Federal Health Minister Mark Holland says a $13-billion dental-care plan will significantly improve access for millions of Canadians who don’t have access to care through workplace insurance plans.
Citizens’ Services Minister Terry Beech said Canadians do not need to do anything at this stage — the federal government will reach out to eligible people by mail to invite them to apply for the benefit when it’s their turn.
The first letters will go out to invite seniors 70 and up to apply for the plan — those seniors will apply over the phone.
Here’s when seniors can expect to receive those letters:
Seniors aged 87 and above starting in December 2023
Seniors aged 77 to 86 starting in January 2024
Seniors aged 72 to 76 starting in February 2024
Seniors aged 70 to 71 starting in March 2024
Then, in May 2024, the application process will switch from the telephone to online as people aged 65 and older become eligible to apply.
People with valid disability tax credit certificates and children under 18 will be able to apply starting in June 2024.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh claimed the government is only pressing ahead with this program now because his party “forced” Ottawa to enact it as a condition of the confidence-and-supply agreement that could keep the Liberals in power until 2025.
“People are living with pain, people are worried about the cost if they do have to go to the dentist. We’ve been fighting to make sure people get coverage while out-of-touch Liberals and cutting-back Conservatives don’t want to deliver help to people. We’ve forced this government to take action,” he said at a press conference in Toronto.
The Liberal Party’s 2021 election platform made no mention of a dental care program.
“We’ve used our power in this minority government to give people help,” Singh added. “(Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre, despite having taxpayer-funded dental care for most of his adult life, voted against kids getting dental care. Conservatives have made it clear what their priorities are — cutting and gutting.”
Filling gaps in system
In a background briefing with reporters, senior public servants responsible for the program stressed that this federal initiative is meant to “fill the gaps” in the system and not replace existing provincial and territorial programs that already cover some oral health services.
But the federal government has received no assurances from the premiers that they will keep their programs operational once the national program rolls out.
Holland said conversations are ongoing with other levels of government. “I think they understand this isn’t an opportunity to shove off costs,” he said.
There’s also a risk of some employers scrapping the dental plans they offer their workers and pushing people onto this new federal plan.
A decision to dismantle those plans would push up the price tag of the dental care plan — in its current form, it is slated to cost the federal treasury about $4.4 billion a year.
Dedicated call centre for queries
The program will be administered by insurance giant Sun Life and dentists, dental hygienists and denturists will directly submit claims to that company for reimbursement. If there’s a co-pay, insured people will pay that cost out of pocket to the provider.
While the program will be run by a third party, the government said people can still work with Service Canada agents to deal with any issues that arise, including eligibility or coverage disputes. There will be a dedicated call centre to deal with dental services.
The government is hopeful that oral health professionals will enrol in the program and accept the Canadian dental-care insurance plan as payment.
Officials said the government will launch an education campaign to brief dentists, dental hygienists and denturists and the organizations that represent them in the new year on how they can sign up to provide covered care.
There will be a set “fee schedule” for services — but the costs reimbursed by Ottawa will vary from province to province.
The government said the fees paid are “relatively generous compared to other public plans across the country,” which should provide an incentive for providers to participate.
Holland acknowledged the government “still has work to do” to guarantee the country’s dentists will provide services to publicly insured clients.
“The core success of this plan is making sure oral health professionals are signing up,” he said. “I’m extraordinarily optimistic there is going to be very strong uptake.”
Holland said he met recently with seniors in Nova Scotia and they didn’t seem hopeful that the proposed dental program would actually materialize.
They had been living with the same set of dentures for decades, he said.
Holland assured them the program was coming and seniors would be able to tap the insurance program to help cover dental costs.
“That was one of the most powerful moments for me politically, to see that look of optimism and joy and what that dignity means. The dignity of being able to get new dentures,” he said.
NDP MP Don Davies is the party’s health critic; he helped to design the framework of this dental care initiative. He praised the program’s rollout as “a truly historic moment.”
“We are building on the legacy of Tommy Douglas who laid the foundation for our country’s public health care system,” Davies said of the former NDP leader who called for “head to toe” health coverage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Alaska man accused of sending graphic threats to injure and kill six Supreme Court justices and some of their family members has been indicted on federal charges, authorities said Thursday.
Panos Anastasiou, 76, is accused of sending more than 465 messages through a public court website, including graphic threats of assassination and torture coupled with racist and homophobic rhetoric.
The indictment does not specify which justices Anastasiou targeted, but Attorney General Merrick Garland said he made the graphic threats as retaliation for decisions he disagreed with.
“Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families,” he said.
Anastasiou has been indicted on 22 counts, including nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce.
He was released from detention late Thursday by a federal magistrate in Anchorage with a a list of conditions, including that he not directly or indirectly contact any of the six Supreme Court justices he allegedly threatened or any of their family members.
During the hearing that lasted more than hour, Magistrate Kyle Reardon noted some of the messages Anastasiou allegedly sent between March 2023 and mid-July 2024, including calling for the assassination of two of the Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices so the current Democratic president could appoint their successors.
Instead of toning down his rhetoric after receiving a visit from FBI agents last year, Anastasiou increased the frequency of his messages and their vitriolic language, Reardon said.
Gray-haired and shackled at the ankles above his salmon-colored plastic slippers, Anastasiou wore a yellow prison outfit with ACC printed in black on the back, the initials for the Anchorage Correctional Facility, at the hearing. Born in Greece, he moved to Anchorage 67 years ago. Reardon allowed him to contact his elected officials on other matters like global warming, but said the messages must be reviewed by his lawyers.
Defense attorney Jane Imholte noted Anastasiou is a Vietnam veteran who is undergoing treatment for throat cancer and has no financial means other than his Social Security benefits.
She told the judge that Anastaiou, who signed his own name to the emails, worried about his pets while being detained. She said he only wanted to return home to care for his dogs, Freddie, Buddy and Cutie Pie.
He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for each count of making threats against a federal judge and up to five years for each count of making threats in interstate commerce if convicted.
Threats targeting federal judges overall have more than doubled in recent years amid a surge of similar violent messages directed at public officials around the country, the U.S. Marshals Service previously said.
In 2022, shortly after the leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, a man was stopped near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties.
ROME (AP) — Canadian and Italian dignitaries on Thursday marked the successful recovery of a photo portrait of Winston Churchill known as “The Roaring Lion,” stolen in Canada and recovered in Italy after a two-year search by police.
At a ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Rome, Italian carabinieri police handed over the portrait to the Canadian ambassador to Italy, Elissa Goldberg, who praised the cooperation between Italian and Canadian investigators that led to the recovery.
The 1941 portrait of the British leader taken by Ottawa photographer Yousuf Karsh is now ready for the last step of its journey home to the Fairmont Château Laurier, the hotel in Ottawa where it was stolen and will once again be displayed as a notable historic portrait.
Canadian police said the portrait was stolen from the hotel sometime between Christmas 2021 and Jan. 6, 2022, and replaced with a forgery. The swap was only uncovered months later, in August, when a hotel worker noticed the frame was not hung properly and looked different than the others.
Nicola Cassinelli, a lawyer in Genoa, Italy, purchased the portrait in May 2022 at an online Sotheby’s auction for 5,292 British pounds. He says he got a phone call from the auction house that October advising him not to sell or otherwise transfer the portrait due to an investigation into the Ottawa theft.
Cassinelli, who attended Thursday’s ceremony, said he thought he was buying a regular print and quickly agreed to send the iconic Churchill photograph home when he learned its true story.
“I immediately decided to return it to the Chateau Laurier, because I think that if Karsh donated it to the hotel, it means he really wanted it to stay there, for the particular significance this hotel had for him, and for his wife too,” Cassinelli told The Associated Press.
The famous image was taken by Karsh during Churchill’s wartime visit to the Canadian Parliament in December 1941. It helped launch Karsh’s career, who photographed some of the 20th century’s most famed icons, including Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein and Queen Elizabeth.
Karsh and his wife Estrellita gifted an original signed print to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in 1998. The couple had lived and operated a studio inside the hotel for nearly two decades.
Geneviève Dumas, general manager of the Fairmont Château Laurier, said on Thursday she felt immensely grateful.
“I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to everybody involved in solving this case, and ensuring the safe return of this priceless piece of history.”
Police arrested a 43-year-old man from Powassan, Ontario, in April and have charged him with stealing and trafficking the portrait. The man, whose name is protected by a publication ban, faces charges that include forgery, theft over $5,000 and trafficking in property obtained by crime exceeding $5,000.
CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed the United States in part on Thursday for the surge in cartel violence terrorizing the northern state of Sinaloa which has left at least 30 people dead in the past week.
Two warring factions of the Sinaloa cartel have clashed in the state capital of Culiacan in what appears to be a fight for power since two of its leaders were arrested in the United States in late July. Teams of gunmen have shot at each other and the security forces.
Meanwhile, dead bodies continued to pop up around the city. On one busy street corner, cars drove by pools of the blood leading to a body in a car mechanic shop, while heavily armed police in black masks loaded up another body stretched out on a side street of the Sinaloan city.
Asked at his morning briefing if the U.S. government was “jointly responsible” for this violence in Sinaloa, the president said, “Yes, of course … for having carried out this operation.”
The recent surge in cartel warfare had been expected after Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, landed near El Paso, Texas on July 25 in a small plane with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
Zambada was the cartel’s elder figure and reclusive leader. After his arrest, he said in a letter circulated by his lawyer that he had been abducted by the younger Guzmán and taken to the U.S. against his will.
On Thursday afternoon, another military operation covered the north of Culiacan with military and circling helicopters.
Traffic was heavy in Culiacan and most schools were open, even though parents were still not sending their children to classes. Businesses continue to close early and few people venture out after dark. While the city has slowly reopened and soldiers patrol the streets, many families continue to hide away, with parents and teachers fearing they’ll be caught in the crossfire.
“Where is the security for our children, for ourselves too, for all citizens? It’s so dangerous here, you don’t want to go outside,” one Culiacan mother told the Associated Press.
The mother, who didn’t want to share her name out of fear of the cartels, said that while some schools have recently reopened, she hasn’t allowed her daughter to go for two weeks. She said she was scared to do so after armed men stopped a taxi they were traveling in on their way home, terrifying her child.
During his morning press briefing, López Obrador had claimed American authorities “carried out that operation” to capture Zambada and that “it was totally illegal, and agents from the Department of Justice were waiting for Mr. Mayo.”
“If we are now facing instability and clashes in Sinaloa, it is because they (the American government) made that decision,” he said.
He added that there “cannot be a cooperative relationship if they take unilateral decisions” like this. Mexican prosecutors have said they were considering bringing treason charges against those involved in the plan to nab Zambada.
He was echoed by President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who said later in the day that “we can never accept that there is no communication or collaboration.”
It’s the latest escalation of tensions in the U.S.-Mexico relationship. Last month, the Mexican president said he was putting relations with the U.S. and Canadian embassies “on pause” after ambassadors criticized his controversial plan to overhaul Mexico’s judiciary by requiring all judges to stand for election.
Still, the Zambada capture has fueled criticisms of López Obrador, who has throughout his administration refused to confront cartels in a strategy he refers to as “hugs not bullets.” On previous occasions, he falsely stated that cartels respect Mexican citizens and largely fight amongst themselves.
While the president, who is set to leave office at the end of the month, has promised his plan would reduce cartel violence, such clashes continue to plague Mexico. Cartels employ an increasing array of tactics, including roadside bombs or IEDs, trenches, home-made armored vehicles and bomb-dropping drones.
