Health care insurance costs are up again.

According to a survey conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits, the premiums and deductibles included in health care insurance rose 5% compared to last year and the current health care costs are nearly double compared to 1999.

Workers in the United States are now paying $3,354 on average for health care. In 1999, the costs were of $1,543. Employers also feel the burden getting heavier as their contribution in 2008 was of $9,325, more than double compared to $4,247 in 1999.

This year’s 5% increase of premiums is actually the lowest rate since the foundation has been conducting this annual study.

And the bad news doesn’t stop here. Employers and employees are not only paying more with each year that passes, but, at the same time, they are getting less for their money. The study shows that deductibles and co-pays are also on the rise. Statistically, in 2007, about 12% of workers had to pay deductibles of about $1,000, but in 2008 the number grew to 18% of all workers.

Considering the fact that, since 1999, wages have increased only 34%, while health care costs more than doubled, the financial burden on average workers has become more and more heavy.  

“The problems people are having paying for health care and health insurance are a central dimension of the economic and pocketbook concerns right now,” said Kaiser Family Foundation president Drew E. Altman, The New York Times reported.

The foundation conducted the survey from January to May 2008 and involved 2,832 with 3 ore more workers on the payroll. A similar study has been conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change and reached the same conclusion: the financial burden of health care insurance is getting heavier and heavier and this is happening while the United States are facing on the their toughest financial crisis ever.