Three, six and 10.

Those are some key numbers regarding health-system legislation that will be considered at the upcoming legislative session. The bill's sponsor, House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara, told a group Thursday that it will feature a three-year plan with six major steps but could take up to 10 years to fully put in place.

The bill's text has not been made public, but Clark told attendees at the Wasatch Front Economic Forum that the measure will be "a path."

"My intent is to implement a plan that will move Utah's health-insurance system to a consumer-driven health-care market," he said, adding that the ultimate goals are to "contain costs, enhance access and improve quality."

The foundation of the plan will be personal accountability and market solutions, he said. "This is not socialized medicine. It does not change Uncle Sam into Dr. Sam. We have got to find market solutions, and there's going to be an increased individual accountability."

Some of the six steps involve actions to be taken by individuals or to benefit them. One involves government and private-sector action to address 16 major health-system issues during the next year.

"The solutions to the problems that we are facing are not going to be without pain," Clark said. "What we have tried to do from a legislative standpoint is provide a shared pain ... In some of these cases, it may be impacting somebody's wallet. Right now, we are dramatically impacting the wallets of businesses, both the employer and employee, across the state when it comes to health care."

Reform proponents have met with insurance, hospital and other industry stakeholders. "All are willing participate," he said. "Everybody has kind of raised their hand and stood and said, 'I'm willing to take my dose of medicine' — a real pun intended — but we need to find how we share this across the scale."

Michael Stapley, president and chief executive officer of Deseret Mutual Benefits Association and moderator of the event's health-system reform panel Thursday, described a long list of reform proposals dating back to the 1970s. Some yielded "substantive" results, but the main problems continue, he said.

Clark, however, said employers' "pain level" has forced movement on the issue. "I think that's what's different right now," he said. "These are becoming, 'Do I succeed and survive or not?"'

Scott Ideson, president of Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah, said he still has questions about some technical aspects of the bill but added he is "very encouraged by where we are today. I am cautiously optimistic about our ability to move this forward." He said 2008 "has to be a year to establish a foundation for change."