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Fewer workers in employer health plans.(Short Interests)

Byline: Gary S. Mogel

NEW YORK - Rising premiums are discouraging many employees from signing up for employer-provided group health insurance plans, according to a survey of 4,700 companies by the Department of Labor.

About half of U.S. employees participate in their employer's group health program, down from 63% a decade ago, the survey found.

Walter Marshall, an economist for the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics in Boston, noted that the decreased participation rate was due mainly to the shifting of more of the health insurance prem

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