• CTF Releases Major Research and Position Paper on Health Care
• Taxpayers Outline Core Beliefs to Guide Debate
• New "Principles" Needed to Modernize the Canada Health Act
• Cost Projections Reveal Health Spending is Unsustainable
• Guidelines Laid Out for Structural Reforms
• Paper Receives Praise from Health Care Experts

Executive Summary

Full Report

OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released a 100-page report entitled: The Patient, The Condition, The Treatment: A Research and Position Paper on Health Care, at a news conference in Ottawa. Over the coming twelve months the CTF plans to publish information gathered through Freedom of Information requests to the provinces on issues such as political messaging, waiting lists and future health care cost projections.


A Taxpayer Issue
"Public and private health care spending is poised to reach $95 billion, or 9.3% of our GDP this year. And 62% of all new provincial expenditures in the last three years have gone to health care," stated CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "Health care should not be seen as social policy issue in isolation, it is a fundament taxpayer issue as well."


Core Beliefs

In its paper the CTF asserts, with evidence, that:

• Health care is in a state of crisis;
• Canadians are ahead of their politicians on the need for reforms;
• Health care is a shared jurisdiction between Ottawa and the provinces;
• The Canada Health Act is not the Bible;
• It is impossible to measure health systems by numbers alone;
• The present debate is too continental, it must become global; and
• Quality and excellence must be the primary focus of reforms, not cost containment.

Modernizing the Canada Health Act
"Status quo defenders of our present system cling to the Canada Health Act even though an increasing number of scholars and practitioners agree the Act stifles provincial innovation and its principles are often in conflict with each other," said Robinson.

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 (clarified), public governance, quality, accountability, choice and sustainability.

The Sustainability Question
The taxpayers federation also projected the average cost growth in the last three years for each province in a scenario of constrained revenue growth for all provinces and found that health care spending could consume 50% of all budget resources by 2007 and B.C. and Newfoundland with similar fates awaiting Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan in 2012, 2014 and 2019 respectively.

"These numbers put to rest the myth that those who advocate real change in health care are driven by an ideological agenda," Robinson noted. "They're driven by a mathematical and actuarial reality: the future for health care doesn't add up."

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 and the embrace of innovative approaches.

"We must not be afraid to learn from Sweden or Germany in how they apply user fees or from Singapore and its unique method of pre-funding the health care costs of future generations," suggested Robinson. "Adapting best-practices from around the world is crucial. In a country where one in three jobs depends on exports and where our large cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver match the cultural diversity of other better known cities (ie: New York, London or Paris), our xenophobic approach to health care reform is annoyingly perplexing."

Praise for the CTF Health Care Paper
"The CTF has produced a thorough and well researched paper. It is a valuable contribution to the emerging health care debate," said Dr. William Orovan, a Hamilton-area physician and past president of the Ontario Medical Association (1999-2000).

"This document is readable and concise but at the same time it is also a bold look at the past, present and future of health care in Canada," stated Dr. David Gratzer, author of Code Blue: Reviving Canada's Health Care System, the 1999/2000 Donner Prize winner for best public policy book in Canada.

Next Steps
"With the release of this document today, the CTF is signaling its intention to play a crucial role in advancing reform options for our health care system," concluded Robinson. "We look forward to discussing these ideas with the Kirby Senate Committee and the Romanow Commission - but most importantly - discussing them with everyday Canadians."