Opinion: Mixed signals on employee health insurance

It is hard to know whether to rejoice or lament two striking if somewhat conflicting messages last week about the costs of employer-sponsored health insurance. An authoritative survey found that premiums for family and individual coverage at work — including both the company's and the worker's share — have gone up only moderately for the second year in a row, suggesting that health care inflation may finally be abating and that whatever costs the president's health reforms may add will be readily absorbed.