CDA asks Ottawa to offer tax incentives to employers that keep dental plans
Thirty-five percent of Canadian employers say they are likely to reduce dental coverage because of the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and 12 percent call that highly likely.
The Canadian Dental Association’s From Coverage to Care, its first comprehensive assessment of the federal program, unveiled at a Parliament Hill breakfast event on Tuesday, found that 4 percent have already reduced their dental plans as a direct result of the CDCP.
Among employers that do not currently offer dental benefits, 13 percent are now less likely to introduce coverage because of the program, up from 6 percent in September 2025.
Thirty-four percent said they would keep their dental plan if the federal government offered a financial incentive to do so.
Separate economic pressures are already moving benefits decisions, according to the same survey: 8 percent of employers have reduced or eliminated health benefits because of trade conflicts, independent of the CDCP, and 16 percent have made benefit changes for other economic reasons.
Approximately 95 percent of dental care in Canada is funded through private dental plans, the CDA paper states, with employer-provided dental benefits covering approximately half of all Canadians.
Employer dental coverage is typically bundled into broader extended health packages that include prescription drugs, vision and mental health services, the paper notes, describing the erosion of any one component as added pressure on the public system.
The paper identifies a group it calls effectively underinsured: workers in lower-wage sectors whose dental benefits cover only part of their needs, but whose access to private coverage may disqualify them from the CDCP.
It also flags retiring seniors who drop privately purchased insurance, along with self-employed Canadians and small business owners, as groups that may shift onto the public plan.
CDA modelling from 2023, reproduced in the paper for illustrative purposes, estimated that a 10 percent de-insurance rate would add 781,600 eligible people and $385m in program costs.
A 20 percent rate would add 1,563,200 people and $770m, and a 50 percent rate would add 3,908,000 people and $1.924bn.
The association recommends the federal government establish a formal, ongoing monitoring mechanism to track employer and private dental benefit trends, including plan coverage changes, employee participation rates and patterns of erosion.
It also recommends a contingency framework that includes employer educational campaigns and tax incentives for employers who maintain dental benefits for lower-income employees who would otherwise be eligible for the CDCP.
Changes in employer-sponsored benefits may not appear in claims data for some time, the paper cautions, and it argues against a wait-and-see approach.
The employer findings sit alongside more than 30 recommendations in the paper.
“A program of this scale is bound to have areas that need refining, and what we have put forward is a constructive, evidence-informed set of recommendations to strengthen it,” said Aaron Burry, CEO of the Canadian Dental Association, in the association’s news release.
Budget 2023 committed $13bn over five years to the CDCP, with $4.4bn per year on an ongoing basis.
For the 2025–2026 benefit year, as of June 30, more than 6.5 million patients had enrolled, close to four million had received care, and more than 28,600 providers were taking part.
The share of Canadians reporting no dental insurance has fallen from 35 percent to 25 percent since the program began, and more than 90 percent of dentists now participate.
Among enrolled patients, 88 percent report a positive experience and 75 percent say their care is more affordable, while 37 percent still report financial barriers.
Sixty-four percent of Canadians support the program.
CTV News reported that Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s office said Canadians are saving an average of $1,000 a year on dental costs.
Press secretary Alexandre Bergeron said in an emailed statement that the government knows more work remains.
The CDCP is “still a relatively new program,” Bergeron said.
