More Small Business Stats- The Case for Reform

This is from a report from the U.S. Dept. of Human Services-

A new report, "Insurance at Risk: Small Business Employees Risk Losing Coverage" details how small businesses are increasingly dropping health insurance and why.

The report notes:
Employees of small businesses are 50 percent more likely to lose coverage as workers at large businesses. Half of workers in small firms that do not offer health benefits remain uninsured.

Premiums for employer-based health insurance have more than doubled since 2000, rising three times faster than wages. As a result, fewer small businesses provide coverage for their employees. In 2000, 57 percent of firms employing less than 10 workers provided coverage. In 2009, only 46 percent of similar-sized firms provided coverage.
In one national survey, nearly three-quarters of small businesses that did not offer benefits cited high premiums as the reason, and on average small businesses pay up to 18 percent more than large firms for the same health insurance policy. This is due in part to high broker fees (which can be up to 10 percent of premiums)and health plan administrative costs that are three to four times those in the large group market.