INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Health care costs will take another leap next year, and more employers will ask their workers to help absorb that by paying deductibles even if the care is within a plan's network of providers, according to the consulting firm PwC.

The percentage of companies that ask their employees to pay deductibles for in-network care has grown steadily the past few years. For instance, PwC said only 11 percent of the companies it surveys annually on expected health care costs reported deductibles of $1,000 or greater in 2009. But it expects that total to rise to 28 percent next year.

The percentage of employers with deductibles of $400 or greater will climb to a projected 54 percent next year from 31 percent in 2009.

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