Small business owners want to provide their employees with health insurance but say they cannot sustain the rising costs.

"We cannot afford a 44 percent increase in medical insurance, so that, in turn, makes us have to start looking elsewhere for different plans, and it makes us have to cut the plan back some," said Amy Millstead Ellzey, who manages an auto repair shop.

The new health care marketplaces opening on October 1 are intended to address these problems by providing access to private insurance with certain guarantees of coverage. Those who already have medical conditions cannot be turned away.