U.S. workers pay more for healthcare, survey finds

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many more U.S. employers are making their workers pay at least a share of their hospital bills, according to a U.S. government survey published on Tuesday.

More than 54 percent of workers covered by employer-sponsored health plans paid a share of bills in 2003, up from 33 percent in 1999, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found.

This did not include small co-payments for doctor visits -- required by 92.4 percent of plans in 1999 and 95 percent in 2003.

The employees were paying hundreds of dollars for hospital visits, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which included 48,000 firms, found.

In 1999 just over 10 percent of employees were required to pay between $150 to $400 out of their pockets for hospital care. This doubled to 21 percent in 2003, the agency found.

"In response to the rapid rise in health care costs and health insurance premiums over the past decade, many firms have adjusted the maximum out-of-pocket expense limit faced by employees enrolled in employer-sponsored plans," the agency said in its report.

In June, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that 41.2 million Americans, or 14.2 percent of the population, were uninsured in 2005, and that more than 70 percent of adults and 62 percent of children had private insurance coverage.

In May the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported that 3 million fewer U.S. workers eligible for employer-sponsored health insurance enrolled in 2003, compared with 1998.

It said a 42 percent increase in premiums was to blame.