There's been a lot of talk – and press coverage – over the last couple of years about employer-based health benefits. Where is it going? How much more will it cost? And will reform kill it altogether? From McKinsey to Willis to our very own surveys, the fate of employer-sponsored health care is a hotly debated one these days.

And it's within this climate the Employee Benefit Research Institute drops its latest take on it. And the outlook is decidedly grim, as least based on these numbers.

For starters and maybe not all that surprisingly, the percentage of workers with coverage has been falling pretty steadily over the last decade. Of course, fewer workers have access to begin with, a huge contributor to drop in coverage.