A dental plan for Ontarians?

Well, not for all Ontarians, but Dalton McGuinty is planning a dental plan for the working poor of the province.

I have long wondered why those who run our public health care system don't believe that teeth and eyes are part of what makes us healthy individuals. Back in the 1960s, the Hall Commission, which recommended that the Pearson government create its medicare plan, also proposed including dental care among the services that should be covered. I'm pleased to see that a government is taking action on this file - even if it is forty years late. Frankly, I'm surprised that this issue managed to sail in under the radar during the election campaign.

I am, however, somewhat disappointed that the once-cherished universality aspect of social welfare programs is not going to be part of denticare. I recognize that it will make the program more affordable, but it will also make it a more difficult program to protect from cutbacks in the future.

All of this reminds me that I need to find a dentist, now that I'm back in Ontario, and seem to have survived my first term of teaching (which you can read as my excuse for infrequent posting over the last couple of months).

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