The average cost of health insurance provided by employers crossed another threshold this year, topping $13,000 for family coverage for the first time, according to a widely followed national survey.

The cost of providing health benefits for families now averages $13,375 a year, with employees paying $3,515 and employers paying $9,860, according to the annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association.

Eleven years ago, family coverage cost $5,791 a year. Since 1999, premiums have increased 131%, compared with a 28% increase in inflation.

The trend is the same for single coverage: It averaged $4,828 this year, up from $2,196 in 1999.

Those premium dollars are buying less coverage, as employers have increased deductibles and co-pays. The Kaiser/HRET survey found that employers expect that trend to continue.

"The implications of today's findings highlight the need for comprehensive health reform aimed at making health care affordable and accessible to all consumers," Maulik S. Joshi, president of Health Research and Educational Trust and senior vice president for research at the American Hospital Association, said in a teleconference.

Health benefit premiums rose 5% this year, well below the double-digit increases seen earlier in the decade. By contrast, overall consumer prices have dropped from a year ago, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.

Drew Altman, the president and chief executive of the Kaiser Family Foundation, noted that if health insurance premiums for family coverage increased at the same rate of the past five years -- an average of 6.1% -- the cost would hit $24,180 in 2019.

If premiums increased at the rate of the past 10 years, the cost of family coverage would reach $30,803 a year.

"Just a simple number," Altman said, "but I think a striking number."

Separately, the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executives of many of the country's largest companies, released a report on Tuesday that estimated that health care costs for each employee would triple to nearly $29,000 over the next decade without significant changes in the health care system.

Altman has the same outlook.

"There's absolutely no reason to believe that we've done anything meaningful to deal with the fundamental drivers behind the rates of increases we've see in health care costs," he said.

Surveys on health insurance premiums for so-called employer sponsored plans vary.

Costs also vary among employers and different parts of the country.

In the Milwaukee area, HCTrends' annual survey of employers found that family coverage cost on average $14,000 to $14,499 and single coverage cost $5,000 and $5,249 this year.

More than 180 companies participated in the online survey this year.

HCTrends also found that 32% of surveyed companies reported premiums of more than $16,000 for family coverage.

Employers in the Milwaukee area reported that premiums increased 5% to 7% this year.

That's in line with what James McCormack, chairman of Diversified Insurance Services Inc., a benefits consultant and insurance broker in the Milwaukee area, has seen overall.

McCormack said premium increases were higher this year for employers with fewer than 75 employees, with increases typically ranging from 8% to 14% before a change in plan design.

For example, his business, which employs about 80 people, was initially facing an 14% increase for the coming year.

After some changes in its health plans, the company was able to get the boost down to 7%.

Others also expect steeper increases in health benefits cost next years.

Dave Osterndorf, chief health care actuary for Towers Perrin, expects premiums to increase 8% to 10% in the coming year, largely because costs have been higher than projected this year.

That's partly because more people are seeking health care services, from routine checkups to elective procedures, out of fear that they will lose their jobs and health insurance.

Others have seen the same trend. The result is that the relatively moderate increases in the cost of health benefits could be coming to an end.

"We certainly are plateauing," Osterndorf said.