• CTF Testifies Before Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care
  
• Taxpayers Federation Outlines Core Beliefs to Guide Debate
  
• New "Principles" Needed to Modernize the Canada Health Act
  
• Guidelines Laid Out for Structural Reforms

REGINA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today testified before Commissioner Roy Romanow, head of the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. CTF federal director Walter Robinson drew from the CTF's nationally acclaimed 140-page report entitled: The Patient, The Condition, The Treatment: A Research and Position Paper on Health Care to deliver his remarks which included a call for modernization of the Canada Health Act and use of pre-funding to sustain Medicare for future generations.

Seven Core Beliefs

The CTF identified its seven core beliefs to guide the health care debate:

Health care is on the verge of crisis;
Canadians are ahead of their politicians in realizing the need for reform;
Health care is a shared jurisdiction between Ottawa and the provinces;
The Canada Health Act is not a sacred text -it must be modernized;
It is impossible to measure health systems by numbers alone;
The debate is too continental - it must become more global; and
Concepts of quality and excellence must underpin reforms, not cost containment in isolation.
On the issue of a crisis in health care, Mr. Robinson testified "to profess otherwise is to turn a blind eye to growing waiting lists for diagnostic imaging, cancer treatments and to refuse to acknowledge the attrition rates and absenteeism among front line health care workers."

In addressing the issue of quality Robinson noted that it was the Fyke report to the Saskatchewan government last year that stated "in health care, good quality often costs considerably less than poor quality."

"We want to make it very clear to Mr. Romanow that this debate must be as inclusive and open minded as possible. He must eschew congenial truths in favour of objective, rational and evidence-based arguments," stated Robinson before his testimony.


Modernizing the Canada Health Act

"Scholars and medical practitioners are converging around one dominant school of thought that the Act constrains provincial initiatives, its core principles are repeatedly breached and more often than not are also in conflict with each other," testified Robinson. "Even Monique Bégin, the former federal Minister of Health and symbolic mother of this law has now called for a re-opening of the Canada Health Act."

The CTF proposes modernizing the Act where its current five principles of universality, public administration, accessibility, portability and comprehensiveness would be replaced in favour of universality (encompassing elements of accessibility, portability and comprehensiveness), public governance, quality, accountability, choice and sustainability.

In his testimony Mr. Robinson observed, "each province continues to increase its health budget at triple the rate of annual revenue growth. In the near future province may need only two ministries: finance to collect the money, and health to spend it. Then what do we do with all other public services "

Structural Reforms and Options

The CTF also forwarded guidelines to be used as benchmarks when health care reform options are considered. These benchmarks include individual patient accountability and responsibility, intergenerational fairness (including pre-funding through health care savings allowances or medical savings accounts) and the embrace of innovative approaches in facility construction, service provision and technology renewal.

Fixing the Medicare House

Concluding his remarks, Mr. Robinson encouraged Commissioner Romanow to move beyond his often-used analogy that the national Medicare house needs remodeling but not necessarily demolition.

"Our collective task is now much greater than simple remodeling," said Robinson. "We must strengthen and reinforce the foundations, build new support beams and renew the mortgage by objectively considering all options for health system reform. Inherent in your task must always be a compelling sense of urgency."