OTTAWA -- Health care is the No. 1 concern among Canadians and many support calls by former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow to overhaul medicare, pollsters say.

Mr. Romanow's long-awaited report, issued last week, recommended Ottawa increase health-care spending by $15-billion between now and 2006.

"There's lately been no issue of equal importance," said Frank Graves, president of Ekos Research Associates Inc. "There's no other issue where people are so willing to spend."

Health care has been a top concern of Canadians since the early 1990s, when polls showed the issue tied with jobs and the economy.

"They just adamantly believe there is a need for reform in the system, not just throwing money at it," Mr. Graves said.

The Canadian Medical Association released an Ipsos-Reid poll last week showing that three out of four -- 74 per cent -- of the 1,013 people surveyed supported Ottawa responding to the Romanow report within 100 days.

"On balance, the commission's report should give Canadians considerable cause for optimism," said the CMA's president, Dr. Dana Hanson. "What is needed is the political will to move forward, and for this to happen, Canadians must speak out."

Mr. Romanow spent 18 months touring the country for his $15-million inquiry into the health-care system.

"There's nothing more important to us," said Mike Colledge, senior vice-president of Ipsos-Reid. "It's not just about money. It's about making the system more efficient. It goes fundamentally to our values we share as a country. We want to look after each other."

However, he said the price tag on Mr. Romanow's prescription to cure medicare is a matter for debate.

Don Guy, senior vice-president of Pollara, said that while people surveyed on the topic have repeatedly said they are concerned about health care, they are generally reluctant to pay higher taxes.

In a recent Pollara poll, however, nearly half of the respondents, or 49 per cent, said they would be willing to "pay more either out-of-pocket or tax payments to increase the range of care provided by the health-care system."