Furey accepts federal health deal, wants it reflected in upcoming provincial budget
N.L. premier says he's instructed health minister to begin negotiations with federal government
Premier Andrew Furey says his government will accept a new 10-year health care deal with the federal government — even though it isn't necessarily the deal he wanted.
In a virtual news conference Monday afternoon, Furey said he's instructed provincial Health Minister Tom Osborne to begin ironing out the details of the new agreement with the federal government.
"It's a healthy offer. It's not one that we wanted. Of course, when it comes to the provision of health, a health-care system we would always like more. But there is a real win here for Newfoundland and Labrador," he said.
Furey met with the other Canadian premiers earlier on Monday. Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said Monday the premiers were "united" in their decision to accept the deal.
According to details released last week, the $196-billion agreement will include an immediate $27-million cash injection to alleviate pressure on emergency rooms and pediatric care in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Newfoundland and Labrador will also see about $210 million a year for the next five years from a five per cent hike to the Canada Health Transfer. The province will get $749 million to spend on "shared priorities" with the federal government.
"I believe that both parties are anxious to come together on the shared priorities to develop beyond the framework an agreement, and I'm hopeful that can be done in short order," Furey said.
Those shared priorities include:
- Expanding access to family health services, including in rural and remote areas.
- Supporting health workers and reducing backlogs.
- Improving access to quality mental health and substance use services.
- Modernizing the health-care system with standardized health data and digital tools.
Furey said the funding will be distributed based on other factors in addition to population size. He said the formula has been skewed on a per-capita basis toward larger provinces and doesn't recognize the complexities of geography, demographics and economies of scale for a province like Newfoundland and Labrador.
Furey said he hopes negotiations will move quickly.
"I'm hopeful to be able to do that in a substantive way so that it can be reflected in this year's budget," Furey said.
Sharing data
There are some caveats — the provincial government will have to share statistics regarding the performance of the health-care system with the federal government.
That data will include the size of surgery backlogs, wait times for community mental health services, and the number of residents are without a family physician.
But Furey says individual health data won't be shared.
"I can certainly appreciate that people would be — and they should be — concerned with sharing personal health information, and that's not what is the intent or spirit of sharing data," he said.
Furey said the statistics will be based on aggregate, depersonalized data rather than personal health information.
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With files from Mike Moore and Power & Politics