Why doesn’t Canadian health care include dental coverage?

In today’s Big Story podcast, it’s always been this way but … why? When it comes to everything from routine cleaning appointments and checkups to more complicated procedures like abscesses and crowns, many Canadians scramble to pay for their own dental care. Even for those lucky enough to have insurance, many employers’ plans don’t have enough coverage to take care of the really expensive stuff.

Is dental care an afterthought in this country? Was there ever a plan to include it in universal health care? What do other countries do? And does any party have a plan to fix this?

GUEST: Anne Thériault, freelance journalist (Read Anne’s piece in The Walrus)

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