As President Obama and Congress look at health care reform, a seven-part lecture series on inequality in health-care access is about to launch at St. Catherine University.

Dr. Oliver Fein, national president of Physicians for a National Health Program, and Dr. Elizabeth Frost, co-chair of the Minnesota chapter of PNHP, will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday (June 17) in the Jeanne d'Arc Auditorium, Whitby Hall, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul.

Fein and Frost will talk about the physician’s perspective in the series titled "Hazardous to Your Health!" The series, which ends Dec. 9, is sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of PNHP and by St. Kate’s. Minnesota’s new chapter has 360 members so far and the national group has 16,000, said Dr. Ann Settgast, co-chair of the state chapter.

PNHP is in favor of a single-payer system for all Americans, while the American Medical Association is opposed to the public option proposed by the Obama administration.

A survey of physicians [pdf] published in April 2008 in Annals of Internal Medicine found that 59 percent of respondents favored legislation to establish a national health insurance program. The respondents came from a sampling of 5,000 physicians in the AMA’s MasterFile. Current support for a national health insurance program grew 10 percentage points from a 2002 survey, when 49 percent of respondents said they favored such legislation. 

Planning for the lecture series started a few months ago, but it’s particularly timely with national attention focused on health care reform.

"In terms of President Obama’s plan of implanting a public option within the current system, that’s not something we are advocating because it leaves all of the systemic defects inherent in our system," said Settgast. "The momentum is strong to do something but not just anything."

The lecture series is free and open to the public.

Here are topics and dates of events:

"The Physician’s Perspective": June 17

"Business Perspective": July 15

"Rural Communities and Access": Aug. 26

"Racial Disparities in Care": Sept. 16

"Immigrant Perspective": Oct. 14

"International Perspectives and Solutions": Nov. 18

"Economics of Health Care and Solutions": Dec. 9