Thursday's annual meeting of the Salt Lake Chamber was prefaced by the Rockamatics performing "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

But with the 105th annual meeting's "rock star" theme, chamber leaders chimed in with a long list of noteworthy accomplishments in 2006-07 and set the tone for the upcoming year with a new verse of priorities.

Scott Hymas, chairman of the chamber's 65-member Board of Governors, specifically spent time addressing an ongoing sour note in an otherwise-humming economy in Utah: health-care woes.

"As I visit with business leaders throughout the state, and really throughout the nation, as well as employees, one of their top challenges is the affordability of health insurance," Hymas told the crowd. "It is something we have got to address.

"And one of the misnomers out there is that it is just small business. I talk to big business leaders as well, and they're very much concerned about their rising health-care premiums. We simply cannot sustain these increases in the future."

Hymas noted that many people lack health insurance entirely. "That's not good for business," he said, adding that many employees do not get the care they need "and business needs a healthy work force."

The current system also is unfair, he said.

"Those who are insured — which most of us are in this room — end up paying premiums that are approximately 17 percent higher to help pay for those who are uninsured, either by choice or by not their choice. We need to level the playing field for all businesses."

He suggested that business, government and health-care leaders work to reform the system.

"If we don't do it, somebody probably at the national level will try and do it for us, and I believe that through cooperation here in the state of Utah, we will be able to do a better job working together," Hymas said.

The other chamber priorities, established by the Board of Governors in June, call for:

• Pre-empting gridlock on highways by investing in balanced transportation, meaning roads and public transportation.
• Investing in Utah's future work force through "smart investment in our children's education."
• Supporting the chamber's Downtown Rising initiative.
• Supporting "sensible" immigration reform.

Lane Beattie, the chamber's president and chief executive officer, listed several successful programs and activities the chamber spearheaded in the past year. He also described the melodious hit that is the state's economy.

"These are the best of times in Utah's economy," he said. "Business is booming in our state, so that we have the hottest economy in the country right now. Our job growth rate is more than three times the national average."

Hymas later reprised that chorus.

"These are extraordinary times for our state," he said. "It's our job to keep it that way. And I commit to you that during my tenure, we will have a bold and proactive chamber that will get things done."

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