Gov. Jim Doyle yesterday created a Healthy Wisconsin Council that he is asking to figure out ways to cut the number of uninsured Wisconsin residents in half by 2010.

The council is being asked to develop a way to make a state-run pool that will finance catastrophic health insurance costs. A catastrophic insurance plan can be based on a New York state plan that has slash insurance premiums for individuals by 50 to 70 percent and for small businesses by 15 to 30 percent.

Fifty percent of Wisconsin's health care costs are acquire by 5 percent of the people, according to a written statement from Doyle, who first pushed the catastrophic insurance plan in his State of the State speech earlier this year.

"The main focus would be to produce an action plan that will reduce the uninsured and lower premiums," said Matt Canter, a spokesman for the governor. The council is to report back to the governor by Dec. 1.