Health insurance premiums have skyrocketed nearly four times faster than wage earnings in Florida over the last decade, according to a study that supporters of health care reform have released today as they try to fend off loud protests from conservatives.

Families USA, a New York-based advocacy and research group, found that since 2000, health insurance companies have raised average family health care premiums in Florida from $6,812 to $13,497 -- a 98.1 percent increase, counting both employers' and workers' share of the cost. Meanwhile, median wage earnings in Florida rose only 26.7 percent, from $22,753 to $28,836.

"Rising health care costs threaten the financial well-being of families in Florida and across the nation," Families USA director Ron Pollack said in a released statement. "If health care reform does not happen soon, more and more families will be priced out of the health coverage they used to take for granted."

The Florida-focused study, which updates the group's 2006 report, argues that the sharp premium increases have persisted despite "thinner" coverage and benefits for employees, along with higher deductibles and copayments. With the cost of employers' share of premiums rising along with that of workers, there has also been a 6 percent decline on U.S. firms offering health coverage.

But workers' share of the costs increased the most dramatically. According to the report: --Employers' portion of annual premiums for family health coverage rose from $4,843 to $8,800 -- an 81.7 percent increase, while the worker's portion rose from $1,969 to $4,697 -- a 138.6 percent increase --For individual health coverage, the employer's portion of annual premiums rose from $2,096 to $3,668 -- a 75.1 percent increase, while the worker's portion rose from $504 to $1,133 -- a 124.7 percent increase The report draws on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to the authors. A copy is available online at http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/costly-cove....

The debate over federal health care reform rages on tonight when U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor holds a town-hall meeting on the issue by telephone.

Loud and, in some cases, violent protesters drowned out Castor, D-Tampa, when she attempted to speak in-person at a health-care reform forum in Tampa on Aug. 6. It was one of numerous public meetings across the country that opponents have disrupted with shouting, sign-waving and other shows of protest.

In Florida and elsewhere, opponents say they do not trust Congress to overhaul the current system and are aggressively questioning everything from the price of reform to its treatment of illegal immigrants and how much control government would gain over the care and health of individuals. Yesterday, a new USA Today/Gallup poll of 1,000 adults revealed that 34 percent were more sympathetic to the opponents' views as a result of their raucous demonstrations at the meetings. Thirty-five percent of Independents said they now side more with the protesters, USA Today reported.

Meanwhile a network of community health providers and advocates known as Florida CHAIN released its own study today, suggesting that up to 1.5 million uninsured low-income Floridians could get coverage under the proposed federal changes.

Reform proponents and opponents alike may participate in Castor's meeting tonight by calling (877) 229-8493 or (877) 269-7289 (PIN: 13964).

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382.