CV
Aaron is currently the CEO of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA). Prior to joining CDA, Aaron held a number of senior leadership roles at the City of Ottawa, Ontario Canada with concurrent cross appointments as Chief Dental Officer for Ottawa Public Health until 2017. He led many significant transformations of Government initiatives that improved access to childcare, housing, social assistance services and of course oral health care. He graduated with his DDS in 1986 practiced full time clinical dentistry at the outset of his career later reducing to one day a week basis for over 20 years until 2022. He holds a Masters in Health Administration, Masters in Business Administration and is specialist in dental public health.
Canadian Dental Care Plan
Currently approximately 60% of Canadians have access to employer sponsored dental benefits. Approximately 10% of Canadians are provided dental care coverage through a broad network of dental programs at the Provincial level. National Government programs provide coverage for group including specific groups of individuals including veterans, refugees and first nations. The Canadian Dental Care Plan is intended to assist the portion of the population ( estimated at 9 million of 38.5 million ) that do currently do not have access to dental coverage and have family taxable income of under $90 CDN. An interim program was announced for 2022 for children under 12 and will be phased out as the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) benefit is phased on beginning May of 2024. CDCP represents the most significant change in the Canadian dental care landscape since the wide spread introduction of employer sponsored dental plans in that began in the late 1980's.
Learning objectives
- Review Canada's current demographics, dental care landscape and the roll of different levels of Government in delivering dental care.
- Specific attention on how CDCP has changed and will continue to evolve that landscape.
- Provide a more detailed overview of the actual coverage being provided to individuals, policy design and administrative approach
- Discuss the complexity of implementation issues and work in progress for the plan that will continue well into 2025