The federal government has invoked confidentiality which forbids the release of the overhead cost of its “Canada Dental Benefit” program, says a report by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).
“However, they have designated these figures to be confidential and therefore not to be released. The Committee may wish to reach out to Health Canada directly to obtain their estimates.”
Families with income from $70,000 to $90,000 would qualify for reduced grants, according to the bill which received royal assent on Nov. 17.
“Based on similar federal programs, we have estimated that a reasonable overhead cost for the national program is 5 percent,” the PBO report said.
Challenges
In the OGGO hearing on Dec. 1, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley, also the committee’s chair, asked parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux who appeared as witness, to provide the administrative costing of the dental program, both as a lump sum and also as a percentage of the overall cost, among other requests.“I’ve heard rumours floating around that it’s quite excessive, so I’m quite curious to see how much we’re actually spending on administration rather than actual delivering to folks,” McCauley said.
“I'd have to get back to you on that so I do not give you inaccurate numbers,” Giroux replied.
A briefing note by the Department of Health on Dec. 14 said the application process of the dental program will likely disqualify low income Canadians the government originally intended to reach.
To qualify, applicants must be tax filers who submitted a return in the previous year to show their income was under $90,000.
“This means individuals who do not file taxes or whose household members don’t will not be eligible for the benefit,” said the note, titled “Challenges Accessing The Interim Canada Dental Benefit For Potential Recipients Who Do Not File Taxes,” obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“It is estimated approximately 10 to 12 percent of Canadians do not file a tax return annually,” the note said, adding that the rate was as high as 20 percent of the poorest wage earners.