The share of Americans who get health benefits through work dropped to 60 percent in 2011, continuing a decade-long slide that highlights the challenges facing President Barack Obama's insurance overhaul. U.S. employers provided coverage for 159 million people in 2011, 12 million fewer than in 2000, according to a study released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report blamed the decline on the total number of jobs available as well as insurance premiums that have more than doubled in some cases. "Everyone's costs have increased dramatically," Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of the Princeton, New Jersey-based foundation, said in a statement. "Higher costs naturally translate into fewer employers offering insurance coverage, and fewer employees accepting it, even when it is offered."
