Conditions are also painful at the small-business end of the corporate spectrum. There are perhaps as many as 45 million U.S. citizens who don’t have any health care insurance, largely because over 50 percent of small business owners can’t afford to offer any health insurance to their employees. And, at many other small firms, the insurance that is offered is too expensive for many employees to subscribe to. As health insurance costs have risen - on average, 12.5 percent per year from 1997 with no forecasted relief in sight - there are two clear patterns that have emerged:
• For every 10 percent increase in insurance costs, 1.3 million adults lose their employer sponsored health insurance, according to a study by the University of California-Berkeley.
• Employee deductibles, co-pays, and share of the total health insurance expense are all rising. The average employee contribution for a family insurance plan in 2004 rose to $3,156, or 32 percent of the total cost ($9,862), from $1,670, or 25 percent, in 2000 (total cost $6,680).