The premiers are meeting today, (Feb. 7,) with prime minister Justin Trudeau and health care is on the agenda.

Foothills MP John Barlow says the current system is unsustainable with some provinces using 50 per cent of their budget for health care.

"Can you honestly say you're seeing better outcomes for those additional dollars, are wait times any less, are facilities any better, are doctors and nurses any less stressed? I would certainly not think that that's the case," he says.

Barlow says under Stephan Harper healthcare transfers were to rise six per cent each year while Justin Trudeau's dropped it to three-and-a-half per cent. 

"I think he's realized that cutting the escalator by almost half is having some pretty dire consequences and the provinces want an increase," Barlow says.

He adds the provinces want to see some freedom of choice in how they spend those dollars, and he agrees that since they're the ones at the front line they should be the ones making those decisions.

"Certainly, you're seeing that with premier Ford in Ontario and premier Smith in Alberta and premier Moe in Saskatchewan, they're going the way that B.C. and Quebec have already gone where they are offering access to private facilities for some of these non-essential health care services and they to start thinking outside the box when it comes to Canada's health care system."

Trudeaus expected to come to the table with billions in new funding.