The World

10 ESSENTIAL STORIES

By Harriet Barovick, Ishaan Tharoor, Alexandra Silver, Claire Suddath, Frances Romero, Kayla Webley and Josh Sanburn Monday, Sept. 13, 2010

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    A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that workers are paying a larger share of their health-insurance expenses. While the cost of the average annual premium for a family policy increased 114% in the past decade, worker contributions rose 147%. And more than a quarter of insured workers--up from 10% in 2006--now have a deductible of at least $1,000 for single coverage alone. With the economic downturn, experts forecast that out-of-pocket costs will keep going up.

    [The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

    Average cost of job-based health insurance

    TOTAL PREMIUMS

    $13,770 UP 114%

    WORKER CONTRIBUTIONS

    $3,997 UP 147%

    SOURCE: THE KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION

    * | What They're Performing in The Netherlands:

    In a move that could finally make opera completely unlistenable, the world's first operatic piece entirely in Klingon--the language popularized by Star Trek--will make its debut in the Hague on Sept. 9. The opera, u, has been in the works for three years. Invitations for the premiere were actually transmitted to the alien warrior race (who, on TV, are opera fans) from a decommissioned telescope station, but it is unclear whether there have been any RSVPs.

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