For typical American workers, the amount of money coming out of their paycheck for health care is increasing at a much faster pace than their wages.

This year, the average insurance premium increased 7.7 percent, compared to 9.2 percent last year and nearly 14 percent in 2003, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation and the nonprofit Health Research and Educational Trust.

Competition among insurers and the lack of any new big-selling prescription drugs in the past few years are contributing to the slowdown, said Gary Claxton, Kaiser vice president and co-author of the study.

But the increase in health-insurance costs this year still far outpaces the rate of general inflation (3.5 percent), as well as the average worker's raise (3.8 percent).

In fact, said Drew Altman, president and chief executive of Kaiser Family Foundation, the amount that workers contribute annually for family coverage has increased an average of 84 percent -- or $1,356 -- since 2000. During that same time, workers' wages rose about 20 percent.

``We're in a period of continued moderation in the rate of increase of insurance premiums... but no one is celebrating too wildly,'' Altman said.

The typical company that doesn't make any changes to its employee benefits for next year faces a premium increase of about 9 percent, according to another study released this month by Mercer Health & Benefits LLC, a national human resources consulting firm.

About 60 percent of firms responding to a Mercer survey said they planned to take steps to reduce those anticipated premium hikes to a more manageable level, averaging closer to 6 percent.

Almost half of all firms say they're likely to increase the amount their employees pay for health insurance next year, according to the Kaiser study.

Likewise, 39 percent of companies said they're likely to increase the co-pay amounts employees pay for prescription drugs and office visits next year, the Kaiser survey found.

Even small employers increasingly are offering their workers two options: a lower-priced plan with higher out-of-pocket costs and a higher-priced option with more comprehensive coverage, said Kevin Cavalier, SummaCare's vice president of sales for the commercial product line.

The vast majority of companies -- 91 percent -- require employees to pay at least a portion of the health insurance premium, according to the Kaiser study. Firms with fewer than 200 workers are more likely than bigger companies to foot the entire bill.

Bob Goff, president of Gardner Pie Co. in Coventry Township, said his company has been absorbing annual increases in recent years rather than forcing its 60 employees to start paying for health coverage.

Nevertheless, the number of firms nationwide offering health benefits has slowly eroded in recent years. An estimated 5 million fewer workers are getting insurance through their employer today than in 2000, Kaiser's Altman said.

Almost three-quarters of employers with 200 or more workers offer at least one wellness program -- things such as injury-prevention, fitness, smoking-cessation and weight-loss classes.

These programs keep costs down over the long haul by preventing some chronic illnesses and life-threatening conditions, said George Stadtlander, chief underwriter and vice president of the education market for Medical Mutual, one of the largest insurers in Ohio.

Progressive Foam, a company based in northern Tuscarawas County on the Stark County line, started aggressively pushing health and wellness programs for its 110 employees last year.

The company pays its insurance company, AultCare, about $100 per person per year to help organize on-site health screenings, walking programs, weight-loss efforts and other wellness and prevention initiatives.

Participating workers can get as much as 50 percent off their share of their insurance premiums, said Melinda Culpepper, Progressive Foam's wellness coordinator.

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