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WASHINGTON -- Health insurance companies, facing the threat of a government health plan, offered on Tuesday to reduce rates for millions of women and accept close federal regulation of their industry.

The higher premiums now affect 5.7 million women, many of them self-employed people who must buy their own coverage.

The industry is trying to head off creation of a government health plan that would compete with them to enroll middle-class workers and their families. President Barack Obama and many Democrats favor such a plan, but the companies say it would drive them out of business. Employer groups are also leery, fearing a public plan would entice young, healthy workers by offering lower premiums.

"We are not asking people to trust us, we are asking people to trust government," Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, told a Senate panel that is crafting sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system.

Although the bill won't be written for weeks, insurers and other interest groups are trying to shape it now.

Instead of a government plan as a check on their industry, insurers are offering to accept a series of consumer protections they contend would add up to a fairer marketplace and cut into the ranks of the 50 million uninsured.

"We are comfortable with...
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