The federal government's dental care program has ballooned to $18 billion in projected costs over five years, with Auditor General Karen Hogan raising concerns about inadequate oversight and the possibility of ineligible Canadians collecting taxpayer-funded benefits.Blacklock's Reporter says Health Minister Marjorie Michel acknowledged Wednesday the government is still trying to improve the Canada Dental Care Plan (CDCP) as questions mount over cost overruns, eligibility requirements and questionable claims.“The Dental Plan is a very good program,” Michel told reporters. “More than 7 million people registered and 5 million received services. But as you know with new programs, we are still looking to sharpen it, to make sure it would be sustainable.”Michel said the government was reviewing the program to determine how services could be improved but offered no details about potential changes.The program, originally projected to cost between $10 billion and $13 billion over five years, is now expected to cost $18 billion.Hogan told the House of Commons public accounts committee the Department of Health failed to collect sufficient information before launching the program, making it difficult to determine whether the subsidies were reaching their intended recipients.The auditor general said government officials attributed some of the unexpected costs to Canadians who had gone years without dental treatment suddenly accessing services.“Their belief was that many of the members in the Plan had not been to a dentist in a long time and that in the first few years there was a higher than anticipated spike,” Hogan testified.However, she said officials did not have enough information about how many recipients previously carried private dental insurance.Conservative MP Adam Chambers questioned how the government could have underestimated the program's costs by billions of dollars.“How is it possible that the government projections could be that far off?” Chambers asked.“We actually asked Health Canada about that,” Hogan replied..Chambers suggested some Canadians who already qualified for dental benefits through employers or provincial programs could be accessing the federal plan despite being ineligible.“I have a theory,” Chambers told the committee. “There are a number of people exempt from the Plan, whether by a private employer or provincial plan, being told they should get coverage from the federal Plan.”He asked whether the government was collecting information to determine how frequently that was happening.“That could be an unintended consequence but that is not tracked,” Hogan responded.The auditor general said the department's failure to establish baseline information before launching the program made it difficult to measure whether the initiative was meeting its objectives.“We did make a recommendation here on having baseline information in order to really measure what the main goal of this program was,” Hogan said.The Department of Health “didn’t gather that baseline information,” she added.“Absolutely, there is a myriad of things they should be gathering.”The CDCP provides subsidized dental services to eligible Canadians with adjusted family net incomes below $90,000 who do not have access to private dental insurance.However, a federal government survey suggests many recipients were already receiving regular dental treatment before enrolling.According to the Department of Employment's report, Canadian Dental Care Plan: Client Experience Survey 2025-2026, most members had visited an oral health professional before joining the taxpayer-funded program.The survey found 73% of recipients had visited a dentist within the previous three years.Those findings raise questions about how much of the program's spending represents additional access to dental care rather than a shift in costs from individuals to taxpayers. Previous dental visits, however, do not necessarily establish that recipients could afford ongoing treatment.The Department of Health has also identified $434.8 million in dental claims associated with people who had private coverage and were therefore ineligible for federal benefits.“This is based on an analysis of member eligibility files and Dental Care Plan claims information,” the department stated in an October 21 notice..The figure raises further concerns about eligibility screening, although it does not establish that the entire amount represents fraudulent payments or confirmed taxpayer losses.The program was introduced to expand dental coverage for Canadians who otherwise might struggle to afford treatment.But with projected costs reaching $18 billion, opposition MPs are demanding answers about how the government intends to control spending, verify eligibility and ensure taxpayers are not paying for benefits claimed by people who do not qualify.Michel maintained the government remains committed to the program while acknowledging further work is needed to make it financially sustainable.
