Even before individuals or small-business owners decide health insurance is too costly, they're often stymied just trying to find the numbers. Texas insurance companies are notoriously stingy with rate information. Figuring the price of insuring a small group can be Kafkaesque.

The city of Houston helped consumers push back Tuesday, launching a clearinghouse of information called www.HoustonHealthChoice.com.

The site lets users type in the kind of policy they seek (individual, family or business), then compare companies' rates within various price ranges.

It's a timely salvo against an insurance crisis that costs Houston's taxpayers and employers billions — yet lies mostly outside city government's powers to solve.

Right now, a full 1 million Houston residents lack health insurance. Most, according to the city, work full time.

By compiling the new Web site, the city helps consumers consider every option for health coverage. Some might be cheerfully surprised to find at least partial coverage within their budgets.

But the clearinghouse does more than help people shop. It also exposes and counters the lack of transparency that is epidemic in the insurance industry. Assembling the information was surprisingly tough, noted Elena Marks, the mayor's health policy director.

"In concept it was very simple," she said. But in practice, asking an insurer for a group rate elicited impossibly broad ranges — with differences in the tens of thousands of dollars. Prices hinged on predicted individual needs, rather than the "community rating" that other states use, which allows for more standardized fees.

The Web site reflects that murky data, Marks said.

By lining up the best figures available in clear, unbiased fashion, the site lets citizens know their options. Too often, as Mayor Bill White mentioned, the only vehicle available for working people is a Cadillac.

There's some chance that spreading this information out chapter and verse for consumers could lower prices. That's what happened nationally in the life insurance industry, when consumer activists successfully pushed for rates to be published.

Once the competition was clear, insurers lowered their rates.

But because Texas health insurance prices are governed by a regulatory framework, city officials aren't holding their breath for this to happen here, Marks said.

It is realistic, however, for consumers to scour the site and use that due diligence to demand better advocacy from state lawmakers. They might start by asking about the fate of a major study completed last year by the Harris County Health Care Alliance.

The alliance is a consortium of health safety net providers. With the help of a huge federal grant, they hired actuaries, market consultants and others to determine exactly what kinds of insurance products Houstonians needed and could afford.

The group came up with two viable, affordable health insurance products that would protect Houstonians. But when a request for proposals was released, no insurance company offered one. It was a naked demonstration that the companies were not willing to write policies that didn't provide the margins they desired.

The data on HoustonHealthCare.com will bolster many Houstonians' indignation — and strengthen their argument for affordable insurance plans. The research, after all, shows it's possible — although the data prove that for many, it is still not for sale.