The federal government unveiled its new dental care plan today, Monday - a $13 billion insurance program that will start covering the costs of routine dental care next year for people who meet a certain income threshold.

Ottawa will first cover children under 18 and some seniors, before expanding the program to include all eligible low- and middle-income Canadians in 2025.

Applications will open for seniors aged 87 and over later this month, with the possibility of applications for other age groups sometime in the new year.

The phased application process is also designed to make the rollout as smooth as possible, as the government expects hundreds of thousands of people to benefit from this new component of the country's social safety net.

Coverage will be implemented gradually over time, but some eligible participants will begin receiving benefits as early as May 2024. Costs incurred before the relevant start date will not be covered.

This insurance-based program replaces the temporary program that sent checks directly to families with children under 12 over the past two years.

Filling gaps in the system...

In a media briefing with reporters, senior officials responsible for the program emphasized that this federal initiative aims to fill gaps in the system and not to replace existing provincial and territorial programs that already cover some oral health services.

However, the federal government has not received any guarantees from premiers that they will continue running their programs once the national program launches.

A decision to dismantle these plans would raise the price of the dental care plan - in its current form, it is expected to cost the federal treasury about $4.4 billion annually.

To be eligible for the program, a person's household income must be under $90,000 and they must not have access to a current private insurance plan. The person must also have filed a tax return so the government can verify income.

The plan is more generous for those households with an income below $70,000, where no co-payments will be due to a dentist, health specialist, or participating dentist - Ottawa will cover the costs of covered services such as cleaning, polishing, x-ray exams, fillings, and root canal treatments.

Families with incomes between $70,000 and $79,999 will face a 40 percent co-payment, and for those in the income bracket between $80,000 and $89,999, the co-payment jumps to 60 percent. The federal plan will cover the remaining costs incurred.

A dedicated call center for inquiries...

The program will be administered by the insurance giant Sun Life and dentists will submit claims directly to that company for cost reimbursement. If there is a co-payment, insured individuals will pay this cost out of pocket to the service provider.

While the program will be operated 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 center to handle dental services.

The government also hopes that oral health professionals will register with the program and accept the Canadian dental care insurance plan as payment.