By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY  Health insurance premiums rose 6.1% this year — the lowest rate of increase since 1999 — but that fact offered little solace to employers and workers, who have seen overall premium increases rise far faster than wages or inflation during that same period.  So says a report released Tuesday by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, which annually surveys about 2,000 employers and publishes a detailed review of costs.  "Health insurance is becoming increasingly unaffordable for many employers and working people in the country," says Drew Altman, president of the foundation. "We're seeing this more and more every year."  The average cost of a family plan purchased by employers this year hit a new high, $12,106, according to the survey. Individual coverage premiums averaged $4,479.  While the percentage of the premium paid by workers stayed about the same as last year, the dollar amount paid by workers toward their share of family coverage rose $308 to $3,281. Single employees paid an average of $694 toward their coverage, up $67.  Wages rose an average of 3.7% this year, and inflation went up 2.6%, Altman said.  The cost for family coverage has risen 78% since 2001, while wages have risen 19% and prices for goods and services have risen 17% in that period, according to the report.  Premiums are just one part of the cost. Many workers also have annual deductibles they must meet before coverage kicks in. Those ranged from an average of $401 for individual workers in HMO-type plans to $1,729 in high deductible coverage plans.  Increasing those deductibles helped some employers keep costs down.  At Econ-O-Line Abrasive Products, a 23-employee shop that manufactures sand blasting equipment, owner Dan DePottey says his premium increases have averaged less than 5% in both of the past two years. During that time, the firm went from a zero-deductible HMO plan to one with a $1,000 deductible.  To soften the blow, DePottey told employees they would be on the hook for only $250 of that deductible: the company would pick up the rest. So far, not very many of his workers have needed to take him up on the offer.  "I actually got lower costs this year than last," says DePottey, whose company is in Grand Haven, Mich. His total health insurance premium bill went from $147,000 last year to $141,000. "It was a little bit of a risk. Hopefully, everyone in the place won't go to the hospital."  Despite a big push by benefit consultants for high deductible policies, often coupled with special tax free savings accounts, the number of people enrolled in such plans did not increase in a statistically significant way, the survey found. Such plans cover about 5% of all insured workers, or about 3.8 million people, up from 4% in 2006. Premiums are generally lower for such plans.  At Community Builders, a non-profit company based in Boston that builds affordable housing, few workers signed up for a newly offered high deductible plan, says Judy Lauch, who oversees benefits for the 500-worker firm.  The plan, with a $1,000 deducible for individuals and $2,000 for families, had been offered to counter a steadily rising trend of the more traditional coverage, whose premiums rose 10% this year.  "We introduced the high deducible plan to try to mitigate some of that," says Lauch, who said the company spent a lot of time explaining the new offering. "We're going to write this year off as an education year."  Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.
Health insurance premiums paid by workers and their employers rose an average of 6.1% this year, outpacing inflation and pay increases and taking a bigger chunk out of families' budgets, according to a new survey.