CHICAGO (Reuters) - Facing growing consumer concern over soaring costs, America's health insurers are more eager to participate in reform now than in the 1990s, but they will still fight any attempt to reduce their profits, policy experts say...

Unlike a decade ago, big business, consumers and unions say the growing crisis in America's health-care system, which is dominated by the private sector, must be dealt with. And the insurance lobby has stepped forward with a plan that includes tax credits and subsidies, which it says will cover 45 million uninsured Americans.

[America's Health Insurance Plans'] own plan unveiled last November uses tax credits and subsidies to expand coverage for poorer Americans. The 10-year plan would cost $300 billion.The trade group says the plan promotes coverage for "every American" but doesn't go as far as some state programs, such as Massachusetts -- which mandates employers cover workers -- nor does it require individuals to have insurance before receiving care...

"It is an attempt to signal a willingness to engage," said Len Nichols, a health-care economist at nonpartisan think tank the New America Foundation. "It doesn't really take on the hard problem of making the markets work better..."

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