The co-chairman of the United Way Health Care Working Group, Bruce Reese, CEO of Bonneville International Group, said it best: We can do nothing and wait for a federal government-run system to be imposed on us, we can nibble at the edges and wait for a federal government-run system to be imposed on us, or we can do something bold and fix the system by taking Utah's health-care future into our own hands.

We have a window of opportunity. The Bush administration looks to states to be laboratories of reform. Mike Leavitt, our former governor and current secretary of Health and Human Services, has expressed a willingness to provide flexibility in how we use federal Medicaid dollars. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has made health system reform a top priority for this year, and legislative leaders are contributing to the dialogue.

Utahns do not want a system that defers to government when it comes to making fundamental health-care choices. Rather, we want a system that relies primarily on the private market, encourages personal responsibility, maximizes consumer choice and creates positive incentives for change.

Now is the time to act. Let's take Utah's health-care future into our own hands.

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Aaron Bludworth is the chairman of the Salt Lake Chamber Health Care Task Force.