Workers in employer-sponsored health insurance plans experienced a smaller average jump in premiums this year. The 2007 increase was 6.1%, a significant drop from the 7.7% rise a year earlier.

The employer premium increase, however, was still much higher than the annual growth in wages (3.7%) and inflation (2.6%), according to the latest annual survey by Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust.

Premiums have risen an average of 78% over the last six years, the report noted. That compares with average increases of just 19% for wages and 17% for inflation.

More on the report can be found in the September-October issue of the journal Health Affairs at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/26/5/1407.