Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage in 2011 increased to $15,073, a 9 percent hike from 2010, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust 2011 Employer Health Benefits Survey.

Employees now pay an average of $4,129 while employers pay an average of $10,944 for those annual premiums. Premiums increases are growing quicker than workers' wages at 2.1 percent and inflation at 3.2 percent. In fact, family premiums have jumped 113 percent since 2001, compared to 34 percent for workers' wages and 27 percent for inflation.

"This year's 9 percent increase in premiums is especially painful for workers and employers struggling through a weak recovery," says Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman, Ph.D.