Go Figure

$20 million

Amount Starbucks expects to spend this year on health insurance for its 80,000 U.S. employees—more than it spends on on raw materials to brew its coffee. The company’s chairman, Howard Schultz, made the observation at a meeting last week with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. Schultz says Starbucks has faced double-digit increases in insurance costs each of the last four years. “It’s completely nonsustainable,” he said, even for companies like his that “want to do the right thing.”