Small businesses are taking a beating from relentless increases in health insurance premiums, and some are banding together to ask Idaho legislators for help.

"We want affordability," said Nancy Snodgrass, organizer of Idaho Main Street Alliance, part of a nationwide effort aimed at speeding up health care reform.

"I've been very impressed with small business owners' desire to add health insurance, but it's just too expensive," Snodgrass said.

Snodgrass herself does not own a small business, but works as full-time coordinator for the alliance. Her salary is paid through a national organization, Health Care for America Now.

If new health-related proposals require lawmakers to hand out more money, chances are the proposals won't get far, since sharp budget cuts are certain in the legislative session that starts Monday.

Still, the needs of small businesses, frequently called the backbone of Idaho's economy, should not be dismissed, Snodgrass said.

About half of Idahoans work for companies with 50 or fewer employees, according to Idaho Department of Labor statistics.

Those small employers, especially those with 10 or fewer workers, are hardest-hit by rising insurance costs and are the most likely to drop coverage for employees because they can't afford it.

One way to help small businesses is for Idaho to create a commission similar to the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, Snodgrass said. The commission approves rate increases for utilities such as gas and electricity before they take effect.

The goal would be to keep insurers from raising rates without anyone's permission, she said.

Overall, health insurance premiums for all Idahoans nearly doubled in six years, even as coverage got skimpier.

But state legislators likely would have little regulatory say over the health insurance provided by Idaho's biggest companies, such as Micron Technology Inc. The federal government regulates most of those plans.

Bill Deal, a former legislator who is director of the Idaho Department of Insurance, declined to speak for or against the grassroots coalition's plans, but said setting rates for insurers is entirely different from setting rates for utilities.

"It's a very complex industry from the standpoint of regulation," Deal said.

The Governor's Select Committee on Health Care has been working for months to craft better, more affordable ways to meet Idahoans' health care needs.

It studied everything from why premiums rise so fast to new ways to cover people who can't get affordable health insurance because they have expensive illnesses.

The committee is considering a few proposals but will not go public with them until the committee meets sometime in the first few weeks of the session, said state Rep. Gary Collins, R-Nampa, co-chairman.

The committee's mental health subcommittee created a large report and will have a proposal to regionalize mental health services. It will be modeled after the state's seven district health departments.

A regional system would not cost the state a dime extra, but would redistribute existing funds that come from a variety of sources, said state Sen. Joe Stegner, R-Lewiston, chairman of the subcommittee.

Colleen LaMay: 377-6448