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Enhancing seniors’ dental care access: Analyzing the impact of government insurance in Canada

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  • Qi Zhang

Abstract

A crucial policy question for the government is whether publicly funded insurance programs effectively improve access to care. Using 2015 and 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) data, we first estimated the effect of government dental insurance for seniors on promoting regular care access and lowering cost barrier. When controlling for individual heterogeneity, we found that having government coverage is associated with significantly lower probability of reporting avoidance of dental care due to cost compared to having no coverage. This effect is comparable with other types of insurance. However, the impact of the government program on regular access to dental care is modest. Secondly, using a portion of data collected in Alberta, we found that the government plan does not increase the overall coverage rate. Moreover, switching from an employer-based plan to government-provided coverage for seniors reduces the probability of regular access to care and increases the probability of experiencing cost barrier. This finding indicates that without expansion of overall coverage rate, the current government dental program may not be generous enough to offset the negative impact of leaving the employer-based plan.

Suggested Citation

  • Qi Zhang, 2024. "Enhancing seniors’ dental care access: Analyzing the impact of government insurance in Canada," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(9), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0310928
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310928
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brent Kreider & Richard J. Manski & John Moeller & John Pepper, 2015. "The Effect of Dental Insurance on the Use of Dental Care for Older Adults: A Partial Identification Analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(7), pages 840-858, July.
    2. Piet Calcoen & Wynand P. M. M. van de Ven, 2018. "How can dental insurance be optimized?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(4), pages 483-487, May.
    3. Preety Srivastava & Gang Chen & Anthony Harris, 2017. "Oral Health, Dental Insurance and Dental Service use in Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 35-53, January.
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