We also lease an aggregate of approximately 490,615 square feet of office space in Rancho Cordova, California for certain Health Plan Services and Government Contract operations. Our aggregate rent and rent related obligations under these leases were approximately $8.9 million in 2004. These leases expire at various dates. We also lease a total of approximately 96,682 square feet of office space in San Rafael and Pointe Richmond, California for certain specialty services operations.
Membership in our federal Medicare Risk program increased 1% at December 31, 2004 compared to the same period in 2003, primarily as a result of membership growth in our Oregon health plan, partially offset by membership losses from our planned withdrawal in selected counties in California. Medicare enrollment in our Oregon health plan increased from 392 to 8,594 members during 2004, primarily as a result of our Oregon health plan’s participation in a Medicare PPO demonstration project.
During 2004, we began the transition from our old TRICARE contracts to our new TRICARE contract for the North Region. Our old TRICARE contracts were comprised of three contracts covering five regions:
Commercial premiums increased by $513.6 million or 8.6% for the year ended December 31, 2003 compared to the same period in 2002. This increase was seen in large and small groups across all states, with California and New Jersey having the largest increases ranging from 12% to 15%. The decrease in member months was primarily due to the loss of the CalPERS account in California, the loss of members in Arizona and Connecticut, and the withdrawal from our Pennsylvania health plan. We ceased providing coverage for commercial members in our Pennsylvania health plan effective September 30, 2003 and for the members enrolled in the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan effective January 11, 2004.
General and administrative costs for the year ended December 31, 2004 decreased by $24.0 million, or 2.6%, compared to the same period in 2003. This decrease is primarily due to the divestiture of our employer services group division in October 2003, which had approximately $40 million in general and administrative expenses, partially offset by $10.6 million in legal costs associated with the provider settlements discussed in “Health Plan Services Cost-2004 Compared to 2003” above. Our administrative ratio (G&A and depreciation expense as a percentage of Health Plan Services premiums and other income) decreased to 9.7% for the year ended December 31, 2004 from 10.6% for the same period in 2003.
During 2000, we secured an exclusive e-business connectivity services contract from the Connecticut State Medical Society IPA, Inc. (“CSMS-IPA”) for $15.0 million that we expected to recover through future connectivity service capabilities. CSMS-IPA is an association of medical doctors providing health care primarily in Connecticut. The amounts paid to CSMS-IPA for this agreement are included in other noncurrent assets and we had periodically assessed the recoverability of such assets. During 2002, we entered into various agreements with external third parties in connection with this service capability. We entered into marketing and stock issuance agreement with NaviMedix, Inc. (“NaviMedix”), a provider of online solutions connecting health plans, physicians and hospitals. In exchange for providing general assistance and advice to NaviMedix, we received 800,000 shares of NaviMedix common stock and the right to receive an additional 100,000 earnout shares for each $1 million in certain NaviMedix gross revenues generated during an annualized six-month measurement period. In March 2002, we entered into an assignment, assumption and bonus option agreement with CSMS-IPA pursuant to which CSMS-IPA received 32,000 shares or 4% of the NaviMedix shares that we received and the right to receive 4% of any of the earnout shares we may realize. Under the agreement, CSMS-IPA is also entitled to receive up to an additional 8.2% of the earnout shares from us depending on the proportion of NaviMedix gross revenue that is generated in Connecticut. In March 2002, we entered into a cooperation agreement with CSMS-IPA pursuant to which we jointly designate and agree to evaluate connectivity vendors for CSMS-IPA members. NaviMedix provides connectivity services to our subsidiary, Health Net of the Northeast, Inc. under a service contract which expires on June 1, 2005.