The rate at which healthcare premiums are going up for employers is proving to be faster than the rate at which inflation is shooting up this year in the U.S. This is the conclusion two surveys conducted across the United States have drawn.

The two studies, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, have shown healthcare premiums are growing two times as fast as inflation during 2007. The studies said the growth rates would remain the same for 2008 as well, and could even pick up speed.

The annual study conducted by the two centers is an indicator of healthcare costs facing employers. The study was conducted on 1, 997 employers showed healthcare premiums growing by 6.1 percent during 2007.

While the bad news is that healthcare costs were rising at twice the speed of inflation, the good news was this was the fourth consecutive year the premiums of companies plunged. The plunge has been a steady, ever since premiums jumped up by almost 14% in 2003.

The survey also discovered the cost of family coverage annually now stands at $12,000. This figure is way more than what a worker working for minimum wages could make during an entire year. Today, the workers share of the premium works out to $3,281. It was half of that just a few years back, in 2000.

The small businesses are the hardest hit, along with the people working for them. The number of small businesses, i.e. companies with more than 200 people, offering a company health plan stands at a mere 59%, a one percent climb-down from last year’s 60%. This number stood at 68% in 2000.

In small companies with a maximum of 10 workers, the number offering a company health plan stood at 45%, a 3 percent climb-down from last year. However, the survey showed 99% of small businesses with more than 200 people offered at least some form of health insurance to employees.

The main reasons for the increasing premiums continue to be the same as before. These include increasing incidents of diabetes, a continued increase in hospital-related expenses, along with an increase in the cost of medical technology.

Nowadays, companies are adopting novel methods to ensure they do not have to pay rising healthcare premium costs. Steps companies and people are taking include buying healthcare from local co-operatives. Such plans offer incentives to workers for achieving goals including, at times, a reduction on co-operative premiums as well.

Another option many people are taking nowadays is the consumer-directed plan. While the Bush administration have been declaring these plans to be very effective, the common American has still not embraced such a plan, though there was a marginal increase over last year as the survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed.

The survey showed one-tenth of the people surveyed by the Kaiser Family were offered the option of such a plan. However, only 5% workers with healthcare decided to take up such a plan in 2007, a little more than the 4% last year.