Senate Bill 61 would net Utah schools 3 percent of IHC's annual revenue, which comes to - don't faint - $188 million over two years.

That's enough to give teachers a handsome pay raise, fund reading and math programs, and purchase all the No. 2 pencils needed to calculate the staggering sum of money IHC takes in each year.

Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, called the tax figures " impressive," and not what you'd expect from a nonprofit organization. The numbers, prepared by the legislative fiscal analyst, also explain why company officials are suddenly talking about selling IHC's insurance business, a move that would affect the health plans of 450,000 Utahns and loosen IHC's grip on Utah health care. Waddoups' bill only taxes hospitals that own their own health plans.

CEO Bill Nelson, operations chief Charles Sorenson, lobbyist John T. Nielsen and other IHC executives are meeting privately with lawmakers to discuss the possibility of breaking up IHC. Waddoups said he was buttonholed every day of last week.

"They want to know how serious I am," he said.

For the answer, we turn to a message sent Thursday to all IHC employees about the matter. Nelson called the discussions with lawmakers "very complex" and "sensitive."

"We have not made any decision to sell our health plans, but there is considerable pressure from several legislators to do so," Nelson wrote. "These are difficult discussions. At this point, we are using our talks to listen to them and to consider the ideas they put forward. . . . As we make decisions about our company, we will communicate them with you openly."

Because IHC controls a large share of Utah's hospitals, doctors and insurance plans, the company controls who patients can see, what they are charged and how much is covered by their insurance.

Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, one of the lawmakers being lobbied by IHC, says Utahns would never tolerate similar conduct by their car insurance company.

"What if State Farm bought four dealerships and said, 'We're not going to renew your car insurance unless you buy from our dealership and fix your car at our garages?' " Buttars asked. "That's essentially what IHC does."

Perhaps. But that integration, IHC argues, is what allows the company to control costs and offer cheaper health plans than its competitors, a claim supported by Utah employers. And that $188 million? "It will have to be passed onto our customers" through price increases, cuts in services or a reduction in charity care, insists IHC spokesman Daron Cowley. "When people fully understand how much this will cost and how it could affect medical services for the poor, they'll realize this is bad public policy."

Waddoups called the prediction a scare tactic, and Buttars vowed not be cowed.

Buttars is pushing another bill that would allow patients, not health plans, to pick their doctors and hospitals, then force insurance companies to reimburse them 95 percent of what they pay in-network providers.

Senate Bill 34 has 14 co-sponsors; Waddoups' legislation has 17, enough to pass the Senate. Buttars plans to introduce his legislation on the Senate floor Tuesday; Waddoups expects his proposal to get its first public hearing Wednesday or Thursday.

Expect IHC - and educators - to pay close attention.

Kim Burningham is a former legislator who now is chairman of the state school board. He called the potential windfall from the IHC tax proposal "startling.

"It really does tell us how big that organization is."

lfantin@sltrib.com