Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos insists the federal government is going to 鈥渨ork flexibly鈥� with the provinces on the terms of a possible health-care funding deal and avoid 鈥渕icromanaging鈥� how they deliver health care to Canadians.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has for a long-awaited meeting between the federal government and the premiers to hash out a health care funding deal.
While Duclos said any new funding will be attached to accountability and metrics to achieve 鈥渂etter outcomes for patients and workers,鈥� he also said there won鈥檛 be a one-size-fits-all approach for all the regions.
鈥淲e are also going to work flexibly with provinces and territories because they are not at the same place,鈥� he told CTV鈥檚 Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday. 鈥淭here are some provinces in Canada, where access to a family health team is almost 90 per cent, other provinces is below 80 per cent, and that's something we should recognize and should work with provinces and territories to address.鈥�
The provinces have long been calling for the federal government to increase funds through the Canada Health Transfer from 22 per cent to 35 per cent of health-care costs, about an additional $28 billion a year.
Meanwhile the federal government has said it鈥檚 open to sending more money to the provinces, but with certain conditions and metrics to meet, including reducing backlogs in surgeries and diagnostics; retaining, recruiting, and recognizing the credentials of health-care workers; investing in mental health; and modernizing the system so medical records can be shared with various providers, electronically.
Duclos wouldn鈥檛 say whether any funding deals would come with set deadlines by which provinces would have to deliver results, but he did say ultimately getting care to Canadians is up to the provinces.
鈥淔irst we have to respect the fact that it's provinces and territories that are responsible for the actual delivery of health care to their citizens and that's a difficult job,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o one responsibility of the federal government is to acknowledge that it's their role, and their responsibility to do that and not to try to pretend that we should be micromanaging the health care systems across Canada.鈥�
Duclos would not say whether the full $28 billion a year is on the table in negotiations with the provinces, but New Brunswick earlier this month he doesn鈥檛 expect to receive the full ask.
