Gessell said Utah is in a "pre-tsunami stage" of health-care reform. Earlier efforts have failed because providers and the business communities were not fully supportive of change, but that has improved, he said.

"We've also heard a lot that it can't be done," he said. "You know, probably to be honest, for many years I was in the camp that 'it can't be done.' But I finally got to the point of saying that we need our best minds, our best efforts from all of us here, from all of the citizens in this state, to make a good system better. ... I wouldn't go so far as to say our system is broken, but the system does need reform and improvement."

Most of the speakers did not quibble with stats showing about 306,000 uninsured Utahns, or 12 percent of the state population; that since 2000, insurance premium costs have doubled; that Utah businesses offering coverage for their employees has slipped from 70 percent to 60 percent since 2000; and that people fear losing their jobs because they'll lose their insurance with it.

"Of all the major things we've done in the state, there's nothing that compares to what we're talking about here, in major reform," Gessell said. "That might scare many of you. Many of you might be excited about it."

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