The Quebec Dentists Association has made good on its promise to pull out of the public health system after the government failed to come to proposed an acceptable deal before today’s deadline, set by the Association three weeks ago.
2000 dentists have already submitted their notice of intention to abandon Medicare in 30 days, according to Dr. Langlois, President of the Dentists Association. Another 600 or so are expected to pull out of the system after the holiday period is over. There are around 3600 dentists total in the Association.
The move will effectively take away dental coverage for children under the age of 10 and people living on social services, some of the system’s most vulnerable users.
“We hope that they won’t have to go to this stage,” Langlois said when asked by reporters what he would say to those people who will find themselves without coverage 30 days from now. “We hope we will have an agreement by then. We hope the M. Couillard will step in, too.”
On Tuesday, Dr. Langlois asked the Premier to take over negotiations from Health Minister Gaetan Barrette, whom the he believes is not interested in finding a solution to the problem. No progress has been made since the call was made.
Quebec dentists have been without a deal since 2015.
The tense negotiations are cornered around a dispute over fair pay for dentists from the public system. The current deal on the table, proposed by Barrette and rejected by the Dentists Association, would see the fees paid to dentists for work covered by Medicare, lowered by 12 per cent.
“It’s a real problem for the dentists, for sure,” Langlois said. “[A dentist] has the same operating costs when he has a child on his chair as a private payment.”
Langlois claims that as the government proposes lowering their fees, dentists are seeing their costs of doing business rise steadily by 2-3 per cent each year.
“The techniques change and the technology evolves,” he said. “We need to stay of the time, for sure.”
Health Ministry officials responded to CJAD 800’s request for comment with the same statement they have been referring to since Tuesday. Barrette will speak to media later today.