Government ministers presented its 600-page legislative package on social and health care reforms on Wednesday.
The core idea of the reforms is that the responsibility of social and health care services would be transferred from many individual and grouped municipalities to 19 provinces in early 2019.
At that time, the Finnish state will be in charge of social and health care policymaking, as well as be responsible for funding, which will affect local government revenues.
The change will halt the large amounts of money currently flowing to municipality coffers and will remove their ability to decide for themselves how the services are funded.
On Wednesday the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Juha Rehola said: "The responsibility will lie with the provinces in the future. [The burden of responsibility] for social services and health care will be taken from the municipalities."
Minister of Finance Petteri Orpo said that the reforms would not lead to an increase in taxes.
Occupational health care unchanged
After the reforms go through, ministers said, it will be those 19 provinces that make organisational decisions in social services and health care.
There will be so-called service centres established in each of the provinces, where public health care will be provided.
Once the reforms go into effect, the roughly 215,000 social and health care workers across the country would be transferred to those provinces.
Health care centres in municipalities will however continue to serve students and promote preventative health care in communities. Health care which is provided in the workplace would not be affected by the reforms, the ministers said.
The 600 pages of legislation reforms include how social services and health care will be organised, the definitions of provinces, financing and a list of other adjustments.
The reform package is by no means final, and the details will be ironed out over the summer.
During that time many topics will likely be debated, such as how people would be able to use a combination of private and public health care services.
Another area that has not been examined is how - or whether - Finland plans to change its public dental care system.
Student health care is another issue to be addressed in future, as well.
Ministers said that the goal of the reforms is to provide people in Finland - regardless of differences between regions - with a more equitable health care system.
The government also aims to save some three billion euros with the reforms.
