From expanded dental care coverage to improved retirement security: What the federal and provincial budgets promised older Canadians

On March 28, the federal government released its Budget 2023, coming on the heels of several provincial budgets. Encouragingly, several of the measures outlined in these documents reflected NIA priorities and recommendations and those of its National Seniors Strategy.    

Improved Retirement Security

One highlight was changes to Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 and the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act announced in the federal budget. These moves would improve retirement security for plan members and retirees through new frameworks for variable payment life annuities and technical housekeeping amendments.

A Dynamic Pension (DP) pool is a financial vehicle that enables Canadians to combine their registered savings at retirement and generate pension income less expensively. This has long been a focal point of NIA research and advocacy. The lack of an acceptable, readily available option to convert retirement savings into affordable monthly lifetime income has created a dangerous disconnect in the Canadian retirement income system, and there has been widespread concern that this would lead to increasing financial insecurity for a large portion of the older Canadian population. Motivated by this concern, in 2018, the NIA leveraged its existing research to create an unprecedented coalition of retirement financial security stakeholder organizations across Canada. Together, they asked the federal government to change tax and pension legislation to allow DP pools.

The federal government committed in its Budget 2019 to update the tax legislation, and related amendments to the Income Tax Act were passed with the Budget 2021 federal legislation. The change announced in Budget 2023 would extend access to dynamic pension pools to a much wider range of older Canadians.

NIA Director of Financial Security Research Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald welcomed the announcement. “DP pools are a proven and viable solution with the potential to improve retirement financial security for millions of retiring Canadians,” she said.

Expanded Dental Care Coverage

Another Budget 2023 highlight was an expanded Canadian Dental Care Plan, which will commit $13 billion over five years to provide dental care to uninsured Canadians with a family income of less than $90,000. This will allow this program to be expanded to include older adults by the end of 2023.

Adults aged 65 and older have been found to have significantly poorer access to dental care compared to other age groups. The NIA’s Director of Health Policy Research, Dr. Samir Sinha, noted that he has been advocating for dental care to be recognized as a component of comprehensive health for more than 10 years. His 2012 report to the Ontario government, Living Well, Living Longer, made the case by showing the association between poor oral health and medical conditions such as pneumonia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. It specifically recommended the creation of a dental program for low-income older Ontarians that was eventually implemented as the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program in 2019.

This new national dental plan will cover uninsured Canadians with annual family income of less than $90,000, with no co-pays for those with family incomes under $70,000. MacDonald said this would be a significant help for low- and moderate-income older Canadians. When reimbursement of retiree dental expenses is provided by a former employer, the benefit is not included in income, meaning eligible retirees would not face a reduction to their OAS or GIS payments or an increase to income tax to offset the amount they receive through the benefit. Presumably, the new publicly funded dental benefit for uninsured Canadians will be treated the same way. “A third of senior receive GIS benefit and the clawback rate is quite high, so it’s really important that the measure not affect their GIS or OAS payments,” MacDonald said.  

Enabling More Ageing in the Right Place

A third Budget 2023 highlight was the introduction of a new, refundable Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit, which will provide up to $7,500 in support for constructing a secondary suite for an older person or an adult with a disability, starting in 2023.

Supporting older adults to age in their own homes and/or communities for as long as possible can help Canada’s already-strained LTC systems. Yet doing so effectively also requires responsive systems and services that can enable what the NIA calls “Ageing in the Right Place.” The recent eponymous, ground-breaking report from the NIA highlights existing best practices and opportunities that could reduce unnecessary LTC home admissions. Sinha notes that “with nearly every older Canadian wanting to age in their own homes and communities for as long as possible, this new Tax Credit will enable this option for more older Canadians in a unique way that can allow them to also benefit from the additional support that living with other family members can provide, such as meeting care and support needs as well as helping to combat loneliness and social isolation that can come from living alone.”

Some Additional Highlights from Selected Provincial Budgets:

• Ontario, Newfoundland and Alberta announced increases to their benefits programs for low-income older adults, and Ontario and Alberta said their benefit would once again be indexed to inflation. Ontario is also expanding eligibility for its Guaranteed Annual Income System (GAINS) to include 100,000 more recipients.

• Ontario and Nova Scotia have both earmarked money to raise wages for PSWs and home and community care workers. The federal Budget 2023 also pledged up to $50 million over five years to strengthen the retirement savings of personal support workers without workplace retirement security coverage.

• Alberta, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Ontario are offering both capital improvements to long-term care homes and additional funding for home care services.

• Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have earmarked funding for dementia services, including $3.5 million for a dementia care action plan in Newfoundland. 

• Nova Scotia has pledged $4.7 million to make the high-dose flu shot free for adults aged 65 and older, which the NIA recommended in its recent report on influenza vaccination.