Premier Scott Moe is speaking on Monday with the other premiers as they work through the Trudeau government’s healthcare funding deal, which fell short of what they were asking for.. HealthcareHealthcare .“How we move forward at the Council of the Federation table, given that the offer was substantially less than the ask,” said Moe at a press conference Monday..Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the premiers will accept Trudeau's healthcare funding package, even though it falls short of what they were asking for from the federal government..“We will be accepting the federal funding. We see it as a step in the right direction,” said Stefanson..“We also recognize that it doesn’t deal with that long-term sustainability with respect to healthcare funding challenges that we are faced with as provinces and territories. So we will be writing the prime minister just to address some of those issues.”.The premiers wanted the Trudeau government to return to funding 35% of healthcare costs, up from the 22% currently funded..Moe is disappointed with the additional healthcare funding from the Trudeau government as it only increased the federal funding by 2%. The premiers were looking for a 13% increase..“The details of the offer amount to a 2% increase and falls short in outlining a path forward for long-term, sustainable funding that all Premiers have been calling for,” said Moe..“However, it is an increase which equates to about a 2% increase across the nation. I think is going to translate to about a 2% increase here in Saskatchewan as well.”.READ MORE Moe ‘disappointed’ with Trudeau’s healthcare funding.Moe does not expect the additional 2% funding to change healthcare in any monumental way.."So it is a lift in the federal portion of healthcare money,” said Moe..“However, it is not significant in any way to change monumentally how we deliver healthcare as we have a provincial lift far beyond 2% for the last number of years, and quite likely are looking at a lift beyond 2% over the next number of years.”.This new federal funding increases the federal government’s share of healthcare funding to 24%..Last week, Trudeau offered a $196 billion healthcare proposal to the provinces and territories over the next decade. It includes $46.2 billion in new funding..However, Moe said that any additional funding is welcome.. Healthcare workerCourtesy pexels.com – no attribution required .“That being said, it is an increase, and any increase in the area of healthcare is appreciated, and it will be well applied in Saskatchewan,” said Moe..Moe said the agreement is still being determined and more discussions will happen with the Trudeau government before the deal gets finalized. But it will be finalized within the next few weeks..“[The] indications are that we are hopeful that it will. So that's some of the discussion that will happen in the course of next week or two,” said Moe.“It's a matter of weeks, not months.”.Moe said part of finalizing the agreement is a one-on-one talk with the federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos to address specific issues for each province..READ MORE Moe says no to healthcare digital IDs after public outcry.The Trudeau government is setting benchmarks with the additional funding, such as reduced surgery wait times and seeing a family doctor..Trudeau wants each province to move to a digital system to share health records better, as most communication in Saskatchewan is still done with faxes.
