But it is the high cost of providing health insurance to their employees that small-business owners find so overwhelming, said Ron Casper, who was there representing the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

"Insurance rates for these businesses are up anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent," said Casper. "They're saying to the health-care industry, 'We can't afford you.' Small-business owners are making a gut-wrenching decision on whether to provide health insurance to each employee."

Chris Coons, southwest regional vice president for Intermountain Health Care, said health insurance is still a "use it or lose it" proposition for those who have it.

"We see a run on the hospital at the end of the year," he said. "People figure they've paid their deductible and they want their money's worth. We'd like to get rid of that."

Some of the work group's proposed actions for 2006 include raising the age requirement for dependent coverage from 26 to 30 years old; extending the time period for coverage exclusions to 12 months; possibly requiring all Utah higher education students to have insurance; allow the "cash price" of medical care to be lower than the "negotiated price"; and marketing existing public health-care programs to enroll more people

Possible long-term solutions include looking at tax credits to employers or individuals, developing state-sponsored risk pools, mandating insurance coverage by the employer or individual, or creating an efficient health-care cooperative governed by the state to oversee medical payments for all Utahns.

For more information on the governor's initiative on health insurance for the uninsured visit the Web site: www.healthdata.state.ut.us/uninsuredsummit/.

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com