CAUT is expressing strong support for the recommendations unveiled last month in the final report of the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada chaired by Roy Romanow.

"The Romanow report provides the government with a clear blueprint of what must be done to improve medicare," said CAUT president Victor Catano. "We urge the federal government and the provinces to act on these recommendations."

The Romanow report recommends the federal government:

• increase health spending by $15 billion by 2006;
  
• introduce a limited pharmacare program to cover high-priced drug treatments;
  
• improve Aboriginal health;
  
• create a Health Council of Canada to measure and track the performance of the health care system;
  
• broaden the Canada Health Act to cover home care services; and
  
• ban extra billing on diagnostic services such as MRIs.
  

Romanow explicitly rejects calls for more privatization and commercialization of health care and instead is calling for $15 billion more for health care over the next four years, including $3.5 billion in the next budget. He is also recommending a change in the way Ottawa funds medicare.

"The federal government contributes less than it did previously, and less than it should. I am therefore recommending the establishment of a minimum threshold for federal funding, as well as a new funding arrangement that provides for greater stability and predictability," Romanow said. "Money must buy change, not more of the same."

The report calls on the federal government to change the way it transfers money to the provinces in support of health care, post-secondary education and social services. Currently, Ottawa provides cash funding for these services to the provinces in one lump-sum under the Canada Health and Social Transfer that provides no accountability over how the funds are spent.

Romanow says Ottawa should scrap the CHST and create a separate fund for health care that is transparent and that provides stable funding.

Catano agreed, saying the elimination of the CHST is "critical, not only for health care, but for post-secondary education as well."

He noted that CAUT made this the key recommendation in its submission to the Romanow Commission and in its proposed Canada Post-secondary Education Act.

The Romanow report also calls for the creation of four new Centres for Health Innovation to focus on rural and remote health, health human resources, health promotion and pharmaceutical policy. Also proposed is the establishment of a National Drug Agency to evaluate new drugs and re-evaluate existing ones.

"Romanow's report is a comprehensive vision for improving our health care system," Catano concluded. "Our politicians need to act quickly to implement the recommendations."