Health premiums rise faster than wages

The gap between rises in health insurance premiums and wages is at its widest point in six years, a survey said on Tuesday, which experts said puts workers in a perilous position should the economy turn sour.

Premiums for employer-based health insurance have risen 6.1 percent in 2007, down from a 7.7 percent increase a year earlier, according to an annual survey of about 2,000 employers by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit research group.