Plastic health cards soon to replace paper ones in Manitoba, Premier Wab Kinew says

Plastic health cards could replace paper ones in Manitoba as soon as next year, Premier Wab Kinew says.

The new change is part of the upcoming provincial budget to be announced on Tuesday, and will include plastic and digital options to replace the existing paper health card, Kinew says. Work on the design of the new card will begin this year.

Kinew's own health card is in bad shape, he said.

"It's all torn up across the top. You can't really see the Manitoba logo. You can barely see my health number," Kinew told guest host Laurie Hoogstraten in a Thursday interview with CBC Manitoba's Radio Noon.

"So yeah, I'd say we're due for an upgrade."

Manitoba and Alberta are the last among all of the provinces and territories to still use paper health cards. Manitoba's shift to plastic means the province is "just catching up with the 20th century," Kinew says.

The change is in response to long wait times for health cards, Kinew says. The province doubled staffing capacity at Manitoba's health department to speed up processing times last October, in light of a 24,000 application backlog, according to a Thursday news release.

"As a result, we've been able to work through the backlog," Kinew said.

Manitoba has also committed to a two-week waiting period for a new or replacement health card, which is down from the previous standard of four weeks, he said.

"This is a pretty basic government service — making sure that you can get your health card and that you can access health care."

The province was able to find the funds within the health department's existing budget to beef up its staff and tackle the backlog, Kinew said.

The province did not specify how much it will cost to modernize Manitoba health cards, but a spokesperson for the premier's office told CBC that they will be woven into a larger section of the upcoming budget devoted to upgrading the health-care system.

Costs will also be decided as work continues to introduce the cards, the spokesperson said.

A hotline and extra support staff are also available to help Manitobans with incomplete applications or ones that contain errors. The province urges any applicants who have not yet received their health card to check for letters, emails or voicemails requesting a correction.

Budget shoes

Finance Minister Adrien Sala says the modernized health card is something that Manitobans have been waiting a long time for, and among many promises from last year's provincial election campaign that will be fulfilled in the budget on Tuesday.

Sala took part in a pre-budget tradition of unboxing new shoes on Thursday, handing out new pairs to several health-care workers at the Victoria Hospital in Winnipeg.

"We know how important of a role [workers] play in delivering health care to Manitobans, so today is about honouring them," Sala said Thursday.

The finance minister says the lead-up to the provincial budget has required a lot of listening to and engaging with Manitobans.

"It's going to be a budget focused on health care, making life more affordable in Manitoba while [ensuring] that we take care of our fiscal needs," he said.

A third-quarter report released by Sala last week said Manitoba's deficit forecast is now just shy of a staggering $2 billion, which is far and away the highest shortfall in Manitoba's history, outside of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other than surpluses in 2019 and 2023, Manitoba has run deficits every year since 2009. The pandemic drove Manitoba's deficit to a record $2.1 billion in 2020-21.

The NDP has repeatedly accused the former Tory government of failing to fully acknowledge the province's financial challenges.

Sala says the upcoming budget will show that the NDP government can balance the books alongside its priorities.

"We're going to prove that we can ride that path and good news [will] come on Tuesday."