Health care premiums jump 9%, fewer workers covered

By Mark Schwanhausser

Mercury News

The cost of health insurance vaulted 9.2 percent in 2005, further pinching workers' pocketbooks and shrinking the ranks of U.S. companies offering medical coverage to their workers. Just 60 percent of companies covered their workers in 2005, down from a peak of 69 percent in 2000.

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...premiums have climbed 73 percent since 2000 -- rising nearly five times higher than inflation or wages...