Potential fixes for the nation's ailing health-care system will get a full airing in Helena next week, as more than 200 people gather for a forum that features reformers from across the country.

The organizer of the Montana Healthcare Forum is Montana Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the state's largest seller of health insurance.

"We decided we needed to engage all of the stakeholders and get everyone together, and find a group who's going to work on health care going forward," says Blue Cross spokeswoman Linda McGillen.

"We hope it will generate ideas on what else has happened in the country, to give people a good idea of what might be worth a more in-depth look here," she adds.

Toward that end, Blue Cross and forum sponsors have lined up two dozen speakers, including many with national credentials.

The speakers include health insurance officials, health policy researchers, consumer-oriented groups involved in reforms in other states, and state officials.

Insurance Commissioner John Morrison is the only statewide elected official on the agenda. Gov. Brian Schweitzer was invited, but declined, citing a scheduling conflict. He'll be traveling in Alberta next week, meeting with Canadian officials on energy issues.

The two-day forum opens Monday at the Great Northern Hotel, at a cost of $200 per person. Government officials and officeholders pay $100.

McGillen says the conference is not geared toward the general public, but rather toward those who make decisions about health care and health-care policy: Hospital administrators, physicians, large employers and insurance companies.

The forum sponsors, which paid anywhere from $1,000 to $7,500 to help cover the cost of the conference, include the state's major hospitals, health-insurance lobbies and companies, other health-care businesses and MEA-MFT, a union representing thousands of school and government workers.

St. Peter's Hospital in Helena, one of six hospital sponsors of the forum, believes it's "a great opportunity" to learn more about health issues on the national level and to jump-start discussions about better access to health care, said hospital spokeswoman Peggy Stebbins.

Nearly one-fifth of Montanans and 47 million people nationwide are without insurance. Montana has one of the highest rates of uninsured people in the nation.

While the forum features many speakers on health-care reform, the agenda is heavy on those who are pushing "market-oriented" reforms, which means expanding private health insurance.

For example, the line-up includes Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, a major lobby group for private insurance, and Charles Kolb of the Committee for Economic Development, a group that believes employer-based health insurance should be phased out, leaving individuals to buy health insurance.

The agenda features no one who is an advocate of a publicly funded, single-payer health-care system, where the government guarantees a level of care for everyone and funds it with tax dollars.

Countries that have publicly funded systems include Canada and Great Britain.

Sen. Christine Kaufmann, D-Helena, an outspoken proponent of a single-payer system, said any reform discussion should ask whether the country wants to continue with private health insurance.

"We have to be looking at other options that are much broader than what we're going to be hearing at this conference," she says. "We have to be supporting health-care access, and forget about propping up an (insurance) industry."

The forum does feature speakers from prominent groups that look at health reforms from a consumer perspective, such as The Commonwealth Fund from New York and Health Care for All from Massachusetts.

Still, both groups believe a mix of private health insurance and publicly funded or subsidized health insurance is the solution to reducing the number of uninsured people. Neither has endorsed a single-payer system.

"(Our) organization supports universal health-care coverage to provide comprehensive, affordable care," says Jean Leu, communications manager for Health Care for All. "Single-payer is one way to achieve that, but it's not a feasible solution for Massachusetts."