Ten-year anniversary of the Kirby Report
Ten years ago on 25 October the 500-page report of the Standing Committee on Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology The Health of Canadians: The Federal Role, was released (often referred to as the Kirby Report, after committee chair Michael Kirby). The report, which looked at the problems and potential remedies for Canadian health care, was followed by the report of the Romanow Commission.
Both reports recommended an injection of more federal funds into health care, which subsequently materialized through two health accords in 2003 and 2004. In the report, the senators recommended that health care funds be used to “buy change and reform,” not sustain health care as it was structured at the time. It is generally recognized that the accords failed to follow this advice.
The senators also proposed a “health care guarantee” with maximum wait times, and warned that if governments could not ensure timely access to care, the courts would decide that Canadians could not be denied the right to purchase private health insurance to get the services they need. The Supreme Court of Canada made such a ruling in the now-famous Chaoulli case in June 2005, and there are currently other cases pending.
Another recommendation in the report was the use of activity-based funding for hospitals, which has now been adopted by some provinces. Recommendations in favor of a national home care program and the expansion of medicare to cover catastrophic drug costs remain unfulfilled.