Following a summer that saw the release of health care plans from presidential candidates and a controversial film from Michael Moore, local and area leaders will weigh in on the country’s health care system.

A panel consisting of a former U.S. congressman, a retired KU professor, a president of a health care consumer group and a Lawrence Memorial Hospital doctor will share their thoughts on how to reform health care.

The forum will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oct. 16 at the auditorium at LMH, 325 Maine.

David Goering, the forum’s moderator and a doctor at LMH, said the talk will focus on differing views on how to best finance a health care system that would cover everyone.

“We’re all in favor of universal health care,” Goering said. “The question is how to get there.”

The event is sponsored by the grassroots group Kansas Health Care for All, which last year gave U.S. congressional candidates a chance to speak to Lawrence residents on health care. Only U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda and an aide for U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore attended the event. But a crowd of about 100 people showed up for the forum.

Goering said the group thought it should make the gathering an annual event, even during off-election years.

Goering plans to give a 30- to 40-minute talk before the panelists launch into their discussion. His briefing will give an overview of the country’s health care system. In his talk, Goering aims to provide context to the data that show the United States spends more money per person on health care than any country in the world, yet ranks 37th in the care it provides.

Joining Goering will be:

¢ Bill Roy, a retired physician from Topeka who served as a U.S. congressman in the early 1970s. Even then, Roy was working to shape legislation for health care reform, Goering said.

¢ Ray Davis, a longtime professor at KU’s Department of Public Administration. He retired last year, but still serves on the board of the Kansas Health Policy Authority.

¢ Michael Fox, a professor at Kansas University Medical Center and president of the Kansas Health Consumer Coalition.

Goering said the combined backgrounds of the panelists should give the audience some insight into health care reform.

“These academics are the ones involved in these decisions on financing health care and how it works,” he said.