Health care costs might be rising less sharply than they were a few years ago, but employers continue to make employees take on more of the burden, and that's likely to continue, a new survey shows.

Plans with high deductibles are becoming the norm, and employers are contributing less to the employee health savings accounts tied to those plans, according to an annual survey released last week by benefits advisory organization United Benefit Advisors.

"More and more of this is on the back of the employee," said Jonathan Weiner, professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "They're paying more up front and more after the fact," and, he said, seeing steeper increases in their share than employers.

Employers are shifting more responsibility and cost to workers through increases in out-of-pocket costs and cutbacks in family benefits, according to the survey of nearly 10,000 small to large employers, billed as the largest benchmarking survey of its kind. Employers use the results to design plans and cost sharing in a way that will keep them competitive while allowing them to attract workers.

Among other findings, the suvery found employer wellness programs have declined slightly and small businesses could be facing sharper cost increases as federal health care reform takes hold.

More than half the employers surveyed by United Benefit Advisors offer one health plan option, and just over a quarter offer two.

Plans last year cost an average of $9,504 per worker, with the employer contributing $6,276 and the employee contributing $3,228, up from $3,184 in 2013, the survey said. Premium rate increases averaged 5.6 percent, ranging from a low of 4.5 percent for "exclusive provider organizations" or EPOs, to a high of 6.3 percent for traditional, point-of-service plans.

Nationwide, deductibles for in-network services last year averaged $1,901 for a single person and $4,256 for a family, roughly the same as the year before, the survey found. Yet out-of-pocket maximums jumped 6 percent to an average $3,900 for a single employee and 3.5 percent to $8,000 for a family.

Costs in Maryland remained below the national average, according to UBA. In-network deductibles averaged $1,511 for a single person and $3,044 for a family, while out-of-pocket maximums averaged $3,178 for a single person and $6,469 for a family.

"The biggest thing in this community right now is high-deductible health plans," said Lawrence W. Ulvila Jr., a founding partner with Annapolis-based Insurance Solutions, an employee benefits design consulting firm. "They're growing across the country, but they have been really strong in Maryland."

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Workers pick up greater share of health care costs, survey finds