A top UI Health Care official, along with state legislators, called for reform to the country’s health-care system Monday.

Settled in the UI Main Library for an hour and a half, UI and state government officials offered their perspectives and answered questions on health care from around 50 local residents.

“If we truly have the best health-care system in the world, why is it only 38 percent of Americans are satisfied with the quality of the health care they’re getting today?” asked UI law Professor Sheldon Kurtz.

Kurtz’s fellow panelists, including UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Jean Robillard, echoed his criticism of the health-care system’s current operations.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, and Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, also participated in the forum.

The panel focused on access, quality, and cost of the health care.

Roughly 47 million Americans are uninsured, and 25 million are underinsured, said Peter Damiano, director of the UI Public Policy Center and forum moderator.

The United States spends roughly $1 in every $6 — about 16 percent of its gross domestic product — on health care, Bolkcom said.

The country, he said, could be paying 20 to 25 percent in the next decade without a reform.

“Virtually every new dollar of wage increase American workers have earned [in the last decade] have gone to the health-care sector,” Bolkcom said. “If we go to 25 percent of our spending, you will not have any money to retire or send your kids to college. … Investments in our public-health system over time have been inadequate.”

To help keep health-care costs manageable, Robillard said, he believes Congress will pass some form of health-care reform by the end of the year.

“I think the only people who know what health care really costs are the insurance companies,” Kurtz said.

There’s a disparity in quality, too, Robillard said, and one portion of the population has high-quality care, but many go without it.

“We are in the lowest quartile in the world for life expectancy,” Robillard said. “We don’t have all the quality we should have for the cost we are paying.”

Iowa City resident Nancy Adams-Cogan, a senior citizen and chaplain at the UIHC, said she is concerned about the future of inadequately funded health-care system.

“I just think a public option will ultimately give us the best quality and access in care,” she said. “I don’t think health care for profit is a great thing.”

Employers are struggling to keep the cost of care affordable for workers, Schulte said.

The challenge is greater for small businesses, which a major portion of Iowa companies.

“[Employers] are sometimes having to make a choice — do I lay off somebody or do I cut back on the care I provide?” Schulte said.